![\"american](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/american-kestrel-0775-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american")
<\/p>\nOne of the first lessons bird photographers learn (often to their great frustration) is that you must get close to your subject in order to get good detail.\u00a0 Very close.\u00a0 Even\u00a0if you’re shooting with a long, expensive\u00a0lens.\u00a0 And getting close usually ain’t easy!\u00a0 Large crops rob detail.\u00a0 I’m of the opinion that cropping away any more than about\u00a050% of the image generally does unacceptable damage to image quality.<\/p>\n
Some species are relatively easy to approach – around here American Robins, \u00a0Mourning Doves and House Finches\u00a0come to mind.\u00a0 Other species have a reputation of being particularly skittish and at the top of that list for many photographers\u00a0is\u00a0the American Kestrel – a strikingly beautiful little falcon that is found throughout most of\u00a0North America.<\/p>\n
For many years I’ve posted\u00a0bird images on an internet avian critique forum and whenever I’d post\u00a0a shot of a kestrel I’d invariably get comments that went something like this: “How in the world did you ever get this close to a kestrel?\u00a0 I always see them\u00a0perched up high on poles or wires and whenever I even\u00a0begin to get close they fly away”.<\/p>\n
Well, here’s the secret – photograph them when it’s cold.\u00a0 Very cold!\u00a0 That means in the depths of winter.\u00a0 It also means in the early mornings on those days when it’s coldest of all.\u00a0 I’ve found that many species of birds are more reluctant to fly in the cold but that tendency seems to be magnified with the kestrel.\u00a0 I’m not sure why but as a photographer I’m more than happy to take advantage of the situation (even though it often means freezing my butt off to get the shot).<\/p>\n
I call the reluctance of birds to fly when it’s cold “being sticky”.<\/p>\n
In each of the images below, note two things: \u00a0the percent of crop as an indicator of how close I was to the kestrel\u00a0and the\u00a0month the image was taken as an indicator of the effect of the\u00a0cold which allowed me to get closer than normal\u00a0to the falcon.\u00a0 All of these images were taken\u00a0in the early morning on very cold days.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Shooting in the cold doesn’t guarantee attractive, natural\u00a0perches and this ugly, metal post is a perfect example of that but I think you can see that I was close to the bird.\u00a0\u00a0Cropped to 84% of the original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on December 9.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/400, f\/10, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Another potential problem with shooting on winter days is that you often get featureless skies or snow as a backdrop which usually makes for high key backgrounds.\u00a0 Some like them, some don’t.\u00a0\u00a0Cropped to 80% of original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on January 24.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/8, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Another male, this time perched on rabbitbrush.\u00a0\u00a0Cropped to 84% of the original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on January 2.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/9, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n If you can find them with prey\u00a0when it’s cold\u00a0they’re even “stickier” than usual.\u00a0 Interestingly this is a mouse instead\u00a0of a vole (note the long tail).\u00a0 I seldom see them with mice but this shot was\u00a0taken fairly close to human habitation which probably explains it.\u00a0 \u00a0Another ugly perch but this shot is full frame (no crop).\u00a0\u00a0 Photo taken on January 7.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 400, 400 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0This cooperative female was stretching and basking in the warming sun just as it came over the mountains in an effort to warm up a little.\u00a0 Cropped to 78% of original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on February 8.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This image shows evidence of just\u00a0how cold it was.\u00a0 There had been a\u00a0blizzard the night before that blew snow so that it stuck on the south side of the perch.\u00a0\u00a0 Cropped to 91% of original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on January 14.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1250, f\/8, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I got closer to this female that I’ve ever been, before or since, to a wild kestrel.\u00a0 She was perched on an ugly hunk of concrete so I decided to see how close she’d let me get.\u00a0 I finally quit inching forward before she flew off because I so enjoyed being that close to her even though I knew I couldn’t get any very good shots because of the perch, light and background.\u00a0 When I was\u00a0through photographing her I\u00a0slowly backed\u00a0away and she was still there when I left.\u00a0 She was a little messy with dried blood on her face from her last meal.\u00a0 Cropped to 70% of original image.\u00a0 Photo taken on January 3.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just for the fun of it I cropped extremely tight on her eye to see what might be visible in the reflection.\u00a0 Ahaaa, there it is – the silver Toyota Matrix I was shooting out of.<\/p>\n I’m truly\u00a0convinced that the secret to getting close, detailed\u00a0images of kestrels is to shoot in the cold, using your vehicle as a mobile blind.\u00a0 And the colder the better.\u00a0 Obviously you still need to use stalking skills to approach them closely but your chances improve astronomically when it’s frigid.\u00a0 Really!<\/p>\n And winter’s coming on! (at least for those of\u00a0us in temperate climes…)<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – In thinking back, I don’t recall ever<\/em> getting a good, detailed shot of a kestrel when it wasn’t either winter or a very cold late fall or early spring day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the first lessons bird photographers learn (often to their great frustration) is that you must get close to your subject in order to get good detail.\u00a0 Very close.\u00a0 Even\u00a0if you’re shooting with a long, expensive\u00a0lens.\u00a0 And getting close usually ain’t easy!\u00a0 Large crops rob detail.\u00a0 I’m of the opinion that cropping away any more than about\u00a050% of the image generally does unacceptable damage to image quality. Some species are relatively easy to approach – around here American Robins, \u00a0Mourning Doves and House Finches\u00a0come to mind.\u00a0 Other species have a reputation of being particularly skittish and at the top of that list for many photographers\u00a0is\u00a0the American Kestrel – a strikingly beautiful little falcon that is found throughout most of\u00a0North America. For many years I’ve posted\u00a0bird images on an internet avian critique forum and whenever I’d post\u00a0a shot of a kestrel I’d invariably get comments that went something like this: “How in the world did you ever get this close to a kestrel?\u00a0 I always see them\u00a0perched up high on poles or wires and whenever I even\u00a0begin to get close they fly away”. Well, here’s the secret – photograph them when it’s cold.\u00a0 Very cold!\u00a0 That means in the depths of winter.\u00a0 It also means in the early mornings on those days when it’s coldest of all.\u00a0 I’ve found that many species of birds are more reluctant to fly in the cold but that tendency seems to be magnified with the kestrel.\u00a0 I’m not sure why but as a photographer I’m more than happy to…<\/p>\n![\"american](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/american-kestrel-6416-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american")
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