![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-5978-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-5978-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSiblings perhaps?<\/p>\n
Two days ago after a long drive in the predawn darkness I arrived at my shooting destination only to be greeted by thick smoke at sunrise. Roughly half an hour later the light through the smoke had only improved marginally when I saw my first of several Red-tailed Hawks. In conditions like these whenever an opportunity for takeoff or flight shots presented itself I had to crank up my settings into territory my camera rarely sees.<\/p>\n
The photos below are some of my results.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, 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 I took photos of this juvenile while it was perched but in the takeoff shot that was potentially the best one I badly amputated its wings. In hindsight I should have taken the time to remove my teleconverter but I was afraid the hawk would take off during the process so I didn’t. We make choices and we just deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n But I quite like this rather unusual flight posture after the hawk took off. Given how close I was I’m pleasantly surprised that the the entirety of both wings are sharp since I was shooting at f\/5.6. Thankfully we can see the eye and enough of the head to make the photo work for me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, 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 In the next shot in the burst the hawk had already begun to level off a little and this time I caught the wings in the up position. The image is cropped vertically because I didn’t have any more room on the right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 1250, 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 Eight minutes later I encountered what I believe to be a different juvenile, possibly a sibling, and this time I didn’t clip the wings at takeoff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 1250, 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 I got a fair number of shots of this bird in flight but this is one of my favorites. The bird is marginally softer in this photo than the others but I I don’t think it’s particularly noticeable and I like this wingspread.<\/p>\n The survival rate of young red-tails at this age is disturbingly low so I wish these youngsters the very best over the next few very difficult months.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note to photographers: The brightness of the sky in the last two photos is deceiving given the thick smoke in the air. For the sake of comparison I believe that at these camera settings and at this time of morning on a sunny day my shutter speed would have approached 1\/8000 rather than the 1\/1000 – 1\/1600 I actually got through the smoke. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-5979-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-5979-ron-dudley\\"")
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