{"id":78714,"date":"2019-11-25T05:27:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T12:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=78714"},"modified":"2019-11-25T07:00:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T14:00:44","slug":"rough-legged-hawk-takeoff-and-flight-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/25\/rough-legged-hawk-takeoff-and-flight-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Rough-legged Hawk Takeoff And Flight Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a bird photographer I’m usually cussing the wind but yesterday morning I was grateful for a stiff breeze.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

This Rough-legged Hawk was partially hidden behind the top of the juniper and too far away for quality perched shots anyway. But I aimed my lens “his” way because I was hoping he might take off and fly in my direction. He was facing in my general direction, raptors usually take off into the wind and the breeze was coming from behind me and blowing into his face so I figured I had a chance.<\/p>\n

But this bird used the stiff breeze in an unexpected way that was still to my advantage.<\/p>\n

The following six photos are sequential with no skips.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

Instead of taking off in my direction and directly into the breeze he…<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

initially launched to my left. For the first two shots he was still partially hidden by the juniper (I don’t like this photo very much because the whites of the right wing are nearly blown out but I’m including it so I don’t have any skips in the series).<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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 once he had cleared the tree he…<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

banked vertically to begin a turn to his right and away from me.<\/p>\n

Even though I wasn’t close to the hawk I could tell that my pickup made him nervous so he wanted no part of getting any closer to me by flying my way and into the breeze. This banking turn gave me my favorite shot of the series, despite his apparently closed nictitating membrane that gave the catch light in his eye a bit of a funky look.<\/p>\n

Without the breeze blowing into his face I don’t believe he would have banked this steeply (or at all) and given me such a spectacular flight posture. That soon after takeoff he wouldn’t have had the momentum to perform such a steep bank efficiently so he most likely would have flown straight off to my left without banking.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

He continued his turn away from me.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

This is the last photo I got where I could still see his eye and had a bit of a catch light. I continued my burst after this shot but I won’t be posting any of those images. Butt shots just aren’t my bag.<\/p>\n

If this hawk hadn’t banked so steeply in that 5th photo I may not have posted any of these shots. I was just too far away for quality photos. But that steep bank did two things that really made me like that particular photo: it provided me a flight posture I adore and it made the hawk fill much more of the frame so I could crop less and have a higher quality photo.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that aggravating wind can be a bird photographer’s best friend.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a bird photographer I’m usually cussing the wind but yesterday morning I was grateful for a stiff breeze.<\/p>\n

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