![\"prairie-falcon-1253\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/prairie-falcon-1253.jpg\" "\\"prairie-falcon-1253\\"")
<\/p>\nThis young Prairie Falcon had apparently been hunting ducks near the edge of the Great Salt Lake and got some of its belly feathers wet so it landed on a rock near the lake for some rest and preening.\u00a0 It posed for me for over 12 minutes which I appreciated but the light was low and variable due to the\u00a0ever-changing thickness of the clouds.<\/p>\n
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1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n At first the falcon was fairly wary of me because I was quite close.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc <\/em><\/p>\n But after a few minutes it settled into its preening again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n But this was a juvenile bird and not quite so suave and sure of its movements as an adult would be and suddenly it slipped on its perch and would have fallen backwards if it hadn’t caught itself with its wings and climbed back up on the rock.<\/p>\n Even though I didn’t get much light in the eye I still got lucky on this shot.\u00a0 I’d been shooting this bird with my tc attached and at a relatively slow shutter speed and the falcon pretty much filled the frame.\u00a0 Just before I took\u00a0this\u00a0image I removed my tc and ratcheted up my ISO to get more shutter speed for a possible take-off shot.\u00a0 If I hadn’t done that the wings would likely have been soft from motion blur\u00a0and I’d have cut off parts of the bird with the tc attached.\u00a0 Occasionally things do work out…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n For the next few minutes the falcon almost seemed embarrassed by what had happened and kept giving me looks like “you didn’t see that, did you”?<\/p>\n I’m fascinated by all falcons but Prairie Falcons in particular\u00a0are such neat birds that I’m always hoping for more opportunities with them.\u00a0 This was one of the few I’ve had.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This young Prairie Falcon had apparently been hunting ducks near the edge of the Great Salt Lake and got some of its belly feathers wet so it landed on a rock near the lake for some rest and preening.\u00a0 It posed for me for over 12 minutes which I appreciated but the light was low and variable due to the\u00a0ever-changing thickness of the clouds. 1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc\u00a0 At first the falcon was fairly wary of me because I was quite close. 1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc But after a few minutes it settled into its preening again. 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4 But this was a juvenile bird and not quite so suave and sure of its movements as an adult would be and suddenly it slipped on its perch and would have fallen backwards if it hadn’t caught itself with its wings and climbed back up on the rock. Even though I didn’t get much light in the eye I still got lucky on this shot.\u00a0 I’d been shooting this bird with my tc attached and at a relatively slow shutter speed and the falcon pretty much filled the frame.\u00a0 Just before I took\u00a0this\u00a0image I removed my tc and ratcheted up my ISO to get more shutter speed for a possible take-off shot.\u00a0 If I hadn’t done that the wings would likely have been soft from motion blur\u00a0and I’d have cut off parts of the bird with the tc attached.\u00a0…<\/p>\n![\"prairie-falcon-1270\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/prairie-falcon-12701.jpg\" "\\"prairie-falcon-1270\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"prairie-falcon-1382\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/prairie-falcon-1382.jpg\" "\\"prairie-falcon-1382\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"prairie-falcon-1425\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/prairie-falcon-14251.jpg\" "\\"prairie-falcon-1425\\"")
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