Behind the Image: Red-tailed Hawk

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500mm OS, f8, ISO 400, 1/2000

I made this image last spring after laying on my belly for a couple of hours photographing water fowl. I was walking to my car when this Red-tailed Hawk landed on a nearby tree. I set my gear down and got ready for it to take off. To my surprise it flew parallel to me, opposed to flying away.

I have wanted to photograph a Red-tailed hawk for years without much luck. When the opportunity arose for me I knew what I had to do. I knew my camera settings and made some quick adjustments. When the hawk did take off I was ready to shoot and I ended up with a nice in flight photo.

After the hawk flew away, I turned to the guy I was shooting with and asked if he got anything good. He missed it completely because he wasn't expecting it to fly parallel to us. I believe that if an opportunity arises you should slow down and get ready for the unexpected. You just never know what you might come up with!

A Lot of Subjects

This is a great time of year for wildlife photography. The problem is there are so many subjects to shoot. The white tail deer bucks are in rut, ducks are migrating through and eagles are headed down the big river, there are northern hawk owls, snowy owls and great gray owls up north. Not only that, but recently I saw a kingfisher land on the same tree branch a couple of days in a row. So what should I photograph?

The eagles were not cooperating today, they must have been full from their feeding frenzy from yesterday. So I thought I would sit in front of that tree branch where I had seen the kingfisher previously. Well the kingfisher didn't show either...

So I tried my local duck pond where I found HUNDREDS of ducks and geese. Most of the ducks were mallards, which I have thousands of photos of, but I did see a pair of hooded mergansers. They were pretty far away but it was nice to see them.

Then as I was walking back to my truck I saw this red tailed hawk sitting on a nearby tree branch. I would be celebrating right now if it weren't for all of the little twigs cluttering the photo. But I was still happy with the encounter.

In the end I'll probably head back to the river tomorrow to see if the eagles will cooperate. But maybe I'll check for the kingfisher too, oh and maybe see if the hawk is on a better perch...