1\/3200, 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>\nI photographed this majestic Ferruginous Hawk almost exactly one year ago in Utah’s west desert. I rarely post photos of perched hawks looking directly at me because that pose doesn’t show the impressive hooked raptor beak to best advantage. But I also think direct double eye contact can be impressive, even intimidating, from such a magnificent bird of prey and you can’t have it both ways.<\/p>\n
In this image I like the similar colors throughout and I think the weathered and shredding old post is pretty neat, at least for a fence post. The background is the Stansbury Mountains.<\/p>\n
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I’ve had Ferruginous Hawks on the brain for almost a week now, ever since I blew a wonderful opportunity with one in the same area near the Stansbury Mountains.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, 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<\/p>\n
I found this one six days ago within a very short distance from where the first photo above was taken but almost exactly one year later. I wasn’t very close to the hawk but I had beautiful warm morning light on the bird and it was facing my direction on the perch so I knew I had a reasonably good chance for very good flight shots if it took off. I’d even have a mountain background instead of blue sky so I waited and waited and waited some more for the bird to launch.<\/p>\n
But a split second before it took off I glanced away from my viewfinder to check for approaching traffic on the dirt road behind me. I tried but couldn’t reacquire focus on the hawk in flight so all I could do was watch it with my naked eye and cuss a blue streak as it flew by very low and close to my pickup. I’d swear that bird snickered at me as it passed.<\/p>\n
That’s bird photography for you.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There’s just something about direct eye contact from the largest and most powerful hawk in North America. Ferruginous Hawks are thought of as wannabe Golden Eagles for very good reason.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-3511-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-3511-ron-dudley\\"")
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