![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/coopers-hawk-4646b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"coopers-hawk-4646b-ron-dudley.\\"")
<\/p>\nBefore yesterday I’d only photographed a Cooper’s Hawk in flight a single time.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 while I was photographing Red-tailed Hawks in the vicinity of their nest this immature Cooper’s Hawk came in from out of nowhere and landed on some sagebrush at the top of the cliff above and to the right of the nest. ‘He’ was obviously hunting songbirds from this high vantage point so he stayed there for several minutes while he scanned the area for breakfast.<\/p>\n He wasn’t particularly close and while perched he was largely hidden by the bare sage branches so my best chance for acceptable photos was to catch him taking off and in flight. Thankfully when he eventually took off he launched in the best possible direction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 One of the reasons I have so few flight shots of Cooper’s Hawks is because they take off so incredibly fast, especially when compared to the buteos (larger and slower soaring hawks) that I photograph far more often. Here I caught him in a rather interesting flight posture.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 This is the last shot I managed to get before I lost focus on him. Immediately after this photo was taken he rocketed down to a rocky slope to the left of the red-tail nest in pursuit of a small bird but he came up empty.<\/p>\n Blog followers often have to ‘listen’ to me lament the fact that I wasn’t closer to my subject, a common complaint of bird photographers, and this was another instance where I initially had that same thought. But I have to remind myself that if I’d been significantly closer I’d have had virtually no chance to get all three of these photos before the speedy little bugger was in another county.<\/p>\n In my view three pretty decent takeoff and flight shots of a Cooper’s Hawk are at least as desirable as a single photo with better detail.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – For those interested in the return of Turkey Vultures to northern Utah I’m seeing more of them each time I visit this area. Four days ago I only encountered a single vulture but yesterday I saw two of them in flight and close to the road. Next time I visit the area I expect to see many more of them.<\/em><\/p>\n Rough-legged Hawks are still here in good numbers but they’ll be gone very soon. Hopefully they’ll be replaced almost immediately by migrating Swainson’s Hawks but I haven’t seen any yet.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before yesterday I’d only photographed a Cooper’s Hawk in flight a single time.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/coopers-hawk-4647b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"coopers-hawk-4647b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/coopers-hawk-4648b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"coopers-hawk-4648b-ron-dudley.\\"")
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