![\"swainsons](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/swainsons-hawk-2793-ron-dudley2.jpg\" "\\"swainsons")
<\/p>\nWhile cruising the back roads of Glacier County, Montana two days ago we came across this Swainson’s Hawk hunting grasshoppers from an\u00a0old\u00a0fence post.\u00a0 Hunting is easy now because it’s harvest time up here and the huge grasshoppers are everywhere\u00a0– as evidenced by the colorful and greasy windshields of almost every vehicle you see.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n When the bird seemed\u00a0about to take off I made one of those split-second decisions that every bird photographer is faced with.\u00a0 Since it looked like the hawk might launch at a 90 degree angle to my position (and stay the same distance from me for the first few flight strokes) I decided to prefocus on the bird and then not attempt to actively maintain\u00a0focus in flight for fear of having focus lock on to the background instead of the bird.\u00a0 This time it worked…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n The bird begins to launch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n The beginning of my burst caught the hawk in one of those dynamic, stretched-out postures that I like.\u00a0 As you can see the bird lost a feather as it took off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n By the next wing stroke it was already to the next fence post.<\/p>\n I got several more sharp shots as the bird passed to my left but of course the further it flew the less eye contact I had so the early shots were the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n The Swainson’s Hawks up here are gorging themselves on grasshoppers right now – a good thing to do in preparation for their upcoming migration.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While cruising the back roads of Glacier County, Montana two days ago we came across this Swainson’s Hawk hunting grasshoppers from an\u00a0old\u00a0fence post.\u00a0 Hunting is easy now because it’s harvest time up here and the huge grasshoppers are everywhere\u00a0– as evidenced by the colorful and greasy windshields of almost every vehicle you see. \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4 When the bird seemed\u00a0about to take off I made one of those split-second decisions that every bird photographer is faced with.\u00a0 Since it looked like the hawk might launch at a 90 degree angle to my position (and stay the same distance from me for the first few flight strokes) I decided to prefocus on the bird and then not attempt to actively maintain\u00a0focus in flight for fear of having focus lock on to the background instead of the bird.\u00a0 This time it worked… \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4 The bird begins to launch. \u00a0 \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4 The beginning of my burst caught the hawk in one of those dynamic, stretched-out postures that I like.\u00a0 As you can see the bird lost a feather as it took off. \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, iso 500, 500 f\/4 By the next wing stroke it was already to the next fence post. I got several more sharp shots as the bird passed to my left but of course the further it flew the less eye contact I had so the early shots were the best of the bunch. The Swainson’s…<\/p>\n![\"swainsons](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/swainsons-hawk-2799-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"swainsons")
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