![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/prairie-falcon-9579-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"prairie-falcon-9579-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nLight like this very rarely occurs in bird photography that doesn’t involve setups or some other kind of manipulation, especially when the subject is a wild Prairie Falcon.<\/p>\n
I posted another photo of this bird about two years ago but this image is new to my blog. Yesterday morning at Bear River MBR I didn’t get any photos I like very much but I had a memorable experience that inspired my choice of subjects for this post.<\/p>\n
I was driving south along the auto tour route when I encountered a Prairie Falcon on the ground within feet of the right side of the dirt road directly in front of me. It let me get very close before it flew off but of course it was on the wrong side of my pickup so I didn’t get any photos. I only rarely see Prairie Falcons on the refuge and getting that close to that species is almost unheard of so the falcon was an exciting find even without getting any photos or anything else interesting happening.<\/p>\n
Its crop was obviously bulging so I knew it had fed recently and wondered if it had been on prey when it flew so I stopped my pickup right next to where it had been perched on the ground about 5′ from the road edge.\u00a0From inside my pickup I could see there was prey there but couldn’t ID it so I got out to walk behind my vehicle so I could inspect it more closely.<\/p>\n
As I crossed the narrow dirt road directly behind my pickup a Short-eared Owl flushed from the grasses perhaps 15′ in front of me! That meant that the falcon and the owl had been perched within about 30′ of each other when I originally approached but of course I hadn’t seen the owl then. I was very surprised to find those two species so close to each other as they were perched on the ground and can only speculate as to why. And speculating about it is exactly what I did during much of the long drive home.<\/p>\n
And that’s why I chose to post a Prairie Falcon photo this morning. I have Prairie Falcons (and Short-eared Owls) on the brain right now.<\/p>\n
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1\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is a young female Prairie Falcon I found several years ago along the causeway to Antelope Island. It was so early in the morning that light was just beginning to reach the bird so her tail, wingtips, the rock perch and most of the background are still in shade which provided a spotlight effect on the falcon. It was cold so she was fluffed up to keep warm.<\/p>\n At certain times of year I used to see both Prairie and Peregrine Falcons along the causeway but it almost never happens anymore. The lake is much lower than it used to be so there’s little water nearby and very few ducks and shorebirds as potential prey so falcons don’t even bother to show up.<\/p>\n I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss having them around.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: The prey the Prairie Falcon was on was some kind of duck, possibly a teal.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Light like this very rarely occurs in bird photography that doesn’t involve setups or some other kind of manipulation, especially when the subject is a wild Prairie Falcon.<\/p>\n