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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday morning while I had this immature Red-tailed Hawk in my viewfinder I noticed that ‘he’ seemed to react to something behind me so I immediately wondered if he was about to be attacked by another bird. When I saw a shadow suddenly appear somewhere in the viewfinder (I can’t remember where it was, it happened too fast) I just laid on my shutter button and hoped I’d capture something interesting.<\/p>\n The incoming bird turned out to be a Northern Harrier with mayhem on its mind. I got about a half dozen shots that included the harrier but this is the first one where the attacking bird was reasonably sharp. I like the doomed look on the red-tail’s face, as if he’s resigned to being the loser in this confrontation. His eyes and expression remind me of Wile E. Coyote just before the Road Runner gets the best of him once again.<\/p>\n When I first started processing these images I cropped out all of the sign but then I realized the delicious irony of the words “SAFETY ZONE” in this context so I reprocessed the photos to include those words.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here the red-tail is beginning to react more dramatically to the incoming threat. Unfortunately the harrier’s shadow was passing right over his face and left wing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n At the last split-second the harrier pulled up quickly to avoid actual contact with the larger and more powerful hawk but its talons were left dangling in case they were needed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the last photo that included a significant portion of the harrier. I like the nonplussed, discombobulated body posture and expression of the red-tail.<\/p>\n I’m getting better at being fast enough on the shutter button to capture encounters like this. I’ve had it happen several times recently so I’m more tuned in to the possibility, remote as it usually is.<\/p>\n It was also fortunate that I was using my smaller lens at the time, which gave me more room in the frame and more depth of field for multiple unpredictable subjects.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – The middle tail feather of the harrier appears to be quite different in color from the rest of them. It’s more gray, like that of an adult male, which makes me wonder if this bird is an immature male just beginning to transition into adult plumage. But I’m out of my league here, any thoughts from my readers?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And the irony of the signpost the hawk was perched on.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-2292-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-2292-ron-dudley\\"")
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