![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/red-tailed-hawk-7912b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-7912b-ron-dudley.\\"")
<\/p>\nShe sure fooled me.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yup, it’s the female rufous red-tail again and six days ago I found her perched on this old snag with a cliff directly behind her. Eventually she performed a nice wing-stretch but during the process she ducked her head behind the broken branch directly in front of her and spoiled those photos.<\/p>\n Stretching is often a precursor to taking off so I prepared myself for getting some takeoff and flight shots. Her mate was perched some distance to the left so I figured she would probably join him since these two birds spend a lot of time together. They seem to be very fond of each other.<\/p>\n So I removed my teleconverter to give me more room for her open wings and waited for launch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n I was right, she took off soon after the stretch but I was wrong about her intended destination. In this shot we have no hint about where she’s going but…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n we do in the next one. Just before landing birds tend to look at their intended perch for obvious reasons Here she already has her eye on the top of the arched branch at the end of the snag she’d just left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n Her intended perch was less than 2′ away from the one she’d just vacated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n Touch down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n The tendency of birds to look at the spot where they’re about to land means I often miss getting catch lights in their eyes, especially in head-on shots like this one and the previous two. But I was lucky to have even kept her in the frame without clipping any body parts. Usually when birds take off I’m already moving my lens in the direction I think they’ll fly so I’m pleasantly surprised that I didn’t continue moving my lens to the left and leave her behind.<\/p>\n While she was perched it didn’t even enter my mind that she might fly such an incredibly short distance, especially with her mate perched out there in the direction she was looking. As hard as I try to interpret and anticipate bird behaviors they often have surprises in store for me.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" She sure fooled me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/red-tailed-hawk-7914-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-7914-ron-dudley\\"")
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