![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-3499b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-3499b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIt’s been much too long since I’ve had a Ferruginous Hawk with photographic potential in my viewfinder but yesterday morning this young bird came through for me big time.<\/p>\n
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I was driving slowly on a dirt\/gravel road soon after dawn when I came upon the hawk perched on a fencepost (not this fencepost) in front of me. I photographed “him” on the post for a while but soon another vehicle passed me from behind and flushed the bird as it went by. He took off away from me but he quickly landed again on this post slightly further away from the road. This photo was taken just as he touched down far away from me. I’m including it for documentary purposes only.<\/p>\n
So I approached him a second time and this time there wasn’t another vehicle coming so he stuck. He was very calm and allowed me to photograph him on the post for quite a while as he rested, preened and roused (and I think he even tried to regurgitate a pellet).<\/p>\n
There was a very cold breeze from the south (my left) and as a bird photographer wind isn’t normally my friend. But in this situation I figured that if\/when he took off he would launch to my left and into the wind instead of away from me again and that would be a great angle for takeoff and flight shots.<\/p>\n
I sure as hell didn’t want to miss that so I resolved myself to not take my eye off the viewfinder or my finger off the shutter. It was a long wait but eventually and with no warning…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-3634-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-3634-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, 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 that’s exactly what happened – he took off into the breeze.<\/p>\n My shutter fired at just the right time to catch him in one of my favorite raptor takeoff postures. I had a great light angle on him, I have eye contact and a catch light, the mountains in the background provided good contrast for the hawk, the bird is sharp and I really like that weathered and frayed old juniper post in warm light as a launching platform. Just about my only nit to pick is I wish I had a little more room on the left for a slightly improved composition.<\/p>\n I also took some interesting photos of him while perched and some nice shots while he was in flight but I didn’t have time to process them for today’s post so you’ll be seeing those photos in the near future.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been much too long since I’ve had a Ferruginous Hawk with photographic potential in my viewfinder but yesterday morning this young bird came through for me big time.<\/p>\n