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<\/p>\nThe red-tail had a dramatic reaction to the brazen attack from the Northern Harrier yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
I had my lens on a Red-tailed Hawk on top of a cliff above me when the sun suddenly went behind some clouds. It was bad timing for me because that’s when all the excitement occurred. As a result I had to use some selective exposure adjustment on all five of these images to bring out the details and colors of the hawk but I thought the behavior was interesting enough to post the photos anyway.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 I had seen the Northern Harrier swooping in so I focused on the perched hawk to get its reaction, if there was one. I knew I was too close to the red-tail to get both birds in the frame if the harrier came in close and even to avoid clipping body parts if the red-tail raised its wings or took off but I didn’t have time to remove my teleconverter so I dealt with the situation as best I could.<\/p>\n This was the initial reaction of the red-tail as the harrier approached. She flared her wings in order to appear larger and she raised the feathers on the back of her head which reminded me of the raised hackles on an angry dog.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n Then she jumped straight up into the air in order to present her talons to the attacker if she needed to.<\/p>\n At about this point I briefly opened my left eye (the one not glued to my viewfinder) and noticed that the harrier was very close to the perched hawk but I never did get him in any of my photos.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n After the harrier passed by the red-tail parachuted back down to her original perch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n It turned out to be a…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n pinpoint landing, executed extremely well considering the circumstances.<\/p>\n The harrier vamoosed but some time later I saw a male harrier approaching my pickup through my windshield. I hoped he would fly to my left so I could get some shots as he passed by but instead he continued straight on toward my pickup. I’m not stretching the truth in the least when I say the harrier passed by no more than 3′ from the end of my lens poking out my window. In over ten years of photographing birds I believe it was the closest I’ve ever had a raptor of any species fly by me.<\/p>\n I think I know why the harriers were so aggressive toward both me and the red-tail. From what I’d seen that morning he and his mate were nesting in the nearby marshes and they apparently wanted to make life uncomfortable for both of us in case we were a potential threat to their nest.<\/p>\n In a perfect world I’d have had time to remove my teleconverter and those damned clouds wouldn’t have moved in front of the sun but it was still an exciting series of events and I was happy to document the defensive reactions of the red-tail.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The red-tail had a dramatic reaction to the brazen attack from the male harrier yesterday morning.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-5305-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-5305-ron-dudley\\"")
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