![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-2263-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-2263-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nPlus a couple of other interesting events in the life of a raptor.<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 400, 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 Yesterday morning this presumed female (based on tarsi thickness) immature Red-tailed Hawk seriously tried my patience. I sat on her for 23 minutes waiting for her to take off but she was in no damned hurry. A wait that long is pretty tense, knowing that takeoff only takes an instant and if you’re not fully prepared for it when it happens you’ll miss it.<\/p>\n The saving grace was that she was in an attractive setting of dark brown phrag plumes with a marshland playa and horizon line behind her so I knew I’d like some of my static shots, despite her metal fencepost perch. At least the post was an old rusty one instead of being painted with garish colors.<\/p>\n I despise new metal fence posts whose tops have been dipped in orange or puke green paint.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here it may look like she slipped on her perch and is trying to regain her balance but instead we’re seeing a startle reaction. On two different occasions something in the vegetation below her spooked her and she reacted like this. Even a large raptor like a red-tail can move incredibly fast when spooked and I was duly impressed by her speed in raising her wings. She raised them much faster than they typically do when taking off.<\/p>\n This reaction was in sharp contrast to her reaction when a…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Northern Harrier dive bombed her. In these situations I expect the bird being mobbed to at least raise its wings into a defensive posture but the only reaction I noticed from her was that she flattened the feathers on the top of her head. She was pretty blas\u00e9 about it all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But eventually she finally decided to take off and thankfully…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I was prepared.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n She even took off at an almost perfect angle for photography instead of turning on her perch and launching away from me as they so often do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The phrag plume in front of her right wing is unfortunate but I can live with it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the cleanest shot I got of her in flight. I like how her entire body is hanging from her wings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A vertical composition of the previous photo if you prefer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Three shots in the burst later she was beginning to turn away from me so this is the last photo I’ll include in the series.<\/p>\n I realize that I post a lot of Red-tailed Hawk photos but they’re the raptor I see most often (harriers are close) and I can only photograph what I see. Besides, I know that red-tails have many fans among the followers of Feathered Photography.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus a couple of other interesting events in the life of a raptor.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-2310-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-2310-ron-dudley\\"")
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