![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-7413-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-7413-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThe aerial portion of the epic battle.<\/p>\n
Yesterday as I reviewed the hundreds of photos I took two days ago of this 13 minute Red-tailed Hawk battle I realized that if I was going to tell the story well I’d have to divide it up into two separate posts, Part I and Part !!. There were just too many photos I wanted to include for a single edition of Feathered Photography.<\/p>\n
This is Part I.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n It was a slow morning for birds so even though this immature Red-tailed Hawk was on an unattractive utility pole and had it’s back to me I decided to watch ‘him’ through my lens for a while. I wasn’t optimistic for flight shots because even if he did take off he was most likely to take off away from me. Much of the time I didn’t even have my finger on the shutter button.<\/p>\n I pride myself on being able to anticipate bird behaviors that I’d like to photograph by interpreting the subtle behaviors that precede them but the photographer has to be quick about it because birds are so dang fast..<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n So when he suddenly began to stretch his neck vertically I put my finger back on the shutter button. At first I thought he was about to preen his lower neck because birds often stretch their neck vertically before doing so. But then I noticed that he was staring intently at something to his right so I thought he’d spotted prey and might soon take off after it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Then this happened. For an instant I thought he was rousing but a nanosecond later my brain interpreted the behavior as the beginning of a threat\/defensive posture that probably signaled another bird flying in aggressively. I expected it to be something like a mobbing blackbird, kestrel, or magpie but whatever it was I knew I wanted to capture it so I laid on my shutter button.<\/p>\n The following five photos were taken in a burst that took 1\/2 second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I’ll be damned if it wasn’t another young Red-tailed Hawk that I didn’t even know was in the area.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n They locked talons on all four feet the instant they made contact. This is the preview photo I posted yesterday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The momentum of the incoming hawk…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n knocked the defensive bird completely off his perch and upside down but their talons….<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n remained locked during the entire aerial portion of their encounter.<\/p>\n After this shot was taken I lost sight of them through my viewfinder so I watched them with my naked eye as they spiraled all the way down to the ground, still locked together. They fought on the ground for 13 minutes before one flew off and then the other. Apparently neither bird was seriously injured which surprised me because they really duked it out.<\/p>\n My plan is to post photos of the ground fight tomorrow as Part II.<\/p>\n Ron.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The aerial portion of the epic battle.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-7416-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-7416-ron-dudley\\"")
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