![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/coopers-hawk-4497-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"coopers-hawk-4497-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nPlus my feeble attempt at a landscape photo.<\/p>\n
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1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 Ten days ago I found this immature Cooper’s Hawk hunting the edge of a mountain range in northern Utah. It disappeared around a rocky point but as I came around the point the hawk was perched on a high ranch gate. As I approached the bird it moved to this fence rail near the gate where it stuck for a few photos.<\/p>\n This was one of the first smoky mornings we had this season and it shows in these photos but I think mostly in a good way. The smoke raised minor havoc with my camera settings and shutter speed but it diffused the warm early morning light and I like its effect on both the bird and the background. My lens is known for producing a pleasing bokeh and in my view it was only enhanced by the effects of the smoke.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you prefer here’s a horizontal crop of the same photo. Personally my preference is the vertical for the better detail and because the sharpness of the fence rail trails off to the left in this horizontal version.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n When the bird turned on the perch to potentially take off in a direction conducive to flight shots I removed my teleconverter in order to have more room in frame for open wings. But instead the hawk simply hunted from its perch instead of taking off so it was a mistake to remove my tc.<\/p>\n Here we see the hawk scanning the vegetation below the fence rail for potential prey. The yellow in the background is blooming sunflowers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n After quite a while the hawk pooped which I knew probably signaled imminent takeoff. I was right but it took off mostly away from me so those takeoff and flight shots didn’t turn out.<\/p>\n I’m fully aware that many if not most of my readers see and get close to Cooper’s Hawks far more often than I do. But to me they’re a pretty big deal because it’s unusual for me to see them in my part of the city and in the remote areas I typically look for birds they’re spooky and extremely difficult to approach.<\/p>\n I believe the main reason this bird allowed me a close approach was its relative youth and inexperience.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On an unrelated note:<\/em><\/p>\n Last night I found this photo from my recent camping trip to Montana and Idaho hiding on one of my memory cards that I use on my backup camera. I wish I’d posted it earlier but I’d forgotten I’d even taken it.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/200, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 135 mm, handheld<\/em><\/p>\n On an earlier post I mentioned that before the smoke rolled in I could see the Teton Range from my campsite on the mountain. This was my view out my trailer window just before dawn on my first morning there. We see only the tips of the Tetons poking up through the haze hanging low in the wide valley.<\/em><\/p>\n I don’t believe that haze is smoke from the fires. This is what the Tetons have typically looked like from the mountain on earlier camping trips to the area and we had clear blue skies the entire day this photo was taken. The next morning the smoke had rolled in so the Tetons were completely hidden. That’s the morning I came home.<\/em><\/p>\n I just think it’s a rather unusual view of the ‘back side’ of the iconic Tetons so on a whim I decided to include it.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Tetons And The Snake River, Ansel Adams 1942, Public Domain (taken while Adams was working for the US Government)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/coopers-hawk-horizontal-crop-4497-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"coopers-hawk-horizontal-crop-4497-ron-dudley\\"")
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