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<\/p>\nYesterday I spent some quality time with a pair of highly entertaining hatch year Red-tailed Hawk siblings. It’s been a while so it was great fun.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Like most youngsters of the species this one was often tentative in “his” actions while he was perched on the rock above me. Here he was apparently thinking about taking off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, 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 But then he thought about it some more…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, 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 and began to fold his wings as he changed his mind,…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, 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 and then turned his head to watch something behind and above him. He ended up staying perched on the rock.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, 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 Soon a cloud approached from behind and in my opinion made the background more interesting for the handsome and slightly puffed up young hawk. I like this shot very much.<\/p>\n I think I know what really happened here although I can’t be sure because I had my eye glued to my viewfinder. In the first photo I believe he may have been reacting to his incoming sibling who was approaching from the left to land behind and above him to the right – sort of a fight or flight reaction. In the third photo he was probably watching his sibling on the higher rocks while it was landing or soon after it touched down.<\/p>\n Yesterday was a Red-tailed Hawk kind’a day. I spent time with four of them and often they were close so I have many photos I like a lot. Readers are likely to see more of them soon but after yesterday’s marathon post I wanted to keep this one reasonably short.<\/p>\n I’ll post other birds too of course but I hope you won’t become weary of red-tails. Feathered Photography has been in a raptor drought for much too long so I think it’s time to make amends – to myself if to no one else.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On an unrelated note (I’m posting a lot of these “unrelated notes” lately, aren’t I) :<\/em><\/p>\n I had a small victory yesterday that turned out to be huge and my opponent was a single small insect. For almost a week there’s been a boisterous cricket in my house. You simply can’t believe how much noise a single one of those cute little devils can make while they’re “singing” at night and that sound has a ventriloquist effect that makes them very difficult to locate. Many nights the sound was coming from the chinks in and near my brick fireplace but that tiny monster moved around – always to inaccessible places. <\/em><\/p>\n One night the singing was coming from behind the stove in my kitchen. It would invariably start singing as soon as the outside crickets started up at about 8:40 PM and keep it up most of the night which often ruined my sleep. Yesterday morning I was up for the day at 2:25 AM! <\/em><\/p>\n I hate using poisons and chemicals anywhere in or near my house but yesterday I finally relented and used Raid in the area of the fireplace where the sound had come from the previous night. I got that little bastard too so I had a blissful, restful and long sleep last night. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-1132-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-1132-ron-dudley\\"")
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