RS hawks, harrier and juvi Coops

coastalconn · Mar 3, 2015

A nice selection of raptors today, even though the light was less than ideal. Comments welcome and thanks for looking..

1

Red Shouldered Hawk 3_3 2 by krisinct- Thanks for 5 Million views as of Jan 12, on Flickr

2

Red Shouldered Hawk 3_3 1 by krisinct- Thanks for 5 Million views as of Jan 12, on Flickr

3

Red Shouldered Hawk 3_3 3 by krisinct- Thanks for 5 Million views as of Jan 12, on Flickr

4

Harrier 3_3 by krisinct- Thanks for 5 Million views as of Jan 12, on Flickr

5 Seems that many geese are dying with the brutal weather. Saw several raptors taking turns on this one. I think the one I photographed yesterday #5 here was one of the dead ones today.. Horned Lark Juvi Hawk and Geese Photography Forum

Juvi Cooper over Goose 3_3 by krisinct- Thanks for 5 Million views as of Jan 12, on Flickr

BillM · Mar 3, 2015

Love the framing of #3 Kris :icon_thumright:

Read an article the other day about how hard this winter is being on wildlife in this area. They are eating anything they can find. I'll be getting some rabbit feed tomorrow to put in my front yard. Hopefully it will keep them out of the back yard. They are squeezing in through the chain link to look for food. My dogs see them and it won't end well. The snow is still 3 to 4 feet deep and I cut trails for the dogs with the snow blower. If one falls into the trail it will never get out !!!

Didereaux · Mar 3, 2015

All really, really good....but to me that Harrier shot is hands down the winner, not just for the technical reasons, but for the reason that to get that angle of view on a low flying Harrier is tough.

Rick50 · Mar 4, 2015

I agree, all are really good!

John Hunt · Mar 4, 2015

great set #1 is my pick.

coastalconn · Mar 4, 2015

John Hunt said:
great set #1 is my pick.

Rick50 said:
I agree, all are really good!

Thank you

BillM said:
Love the framing of #3 Kris
Read an article the other day about how hard this winter is being on wildlife in this area. They are eating anything they can find. I'll be getting some rabbit feed tomorrow to put in my front yard. Hopefully it will keep them out of the back yard. They are squeezing in through the chain link to look for food. My dogs see them and it won't end well. The snow is still 3 to 4 feet deep and I cut trails for the dogs with the snow blower. If one falls into the trail it will never get out !!!

Thank Bill! Yes it does seem to be very tough. I am seeing so many dead geese down here. Probably 15 in the last week. Some were killed by eagles. But some seem to be just dropping dead. I have seen many that are very lethargic and can barely lift up there heads. I'm not sure if it is a food source issue or perhaps treatment on the roads that is poisoning them?

Didereaux said:
All really, really good....but to me that Harrier shot is hands down the winner, not just for the technical reasons, but for the reason that to get that angle of view on a low flying Harrier is tough.

Yes sir it is. Harriers seem to be the biggest challenge in Raptor world. This one seemed to be trying to pick which dead goose he wanted to eat and made a nice big banking turn in front of me.

baturn · Mar 4, 2015

These are amazing, Kris. I also like #1 and have a question or two.
Was flash used and if so could you provide some pointers as in where the flash is mounted, modifiers used and anything else you think might be helpful? Thankyou.

jsecordphoto · Mar 4, 2015

Harrier! Nice. I forget if you've mentioned before, but do you leave VC on for flight shots as well? I've heard varying opinions on that

coastalconn · Mar 4, 2015

baturn said:
These are amazing, Kris. I also like #1 and have a question or two.
Was flash used and if so could you provide some pointers as in where the flash is mounted, modifiers used and anything else you think might be helpful? Thankyou.

Actually no flash was used. I took a guess which way the hawk would take off. I got in a spot with really tall pine tree in the background. (I'm sick of the blah winter colors). I used my normal spot metering and it just made the Hawk really pop..

jsecordphoto said:
Harrier! Nice. I forget if you've mentioned before, but do you leave VC on for flight shots as well? I've heard varying opinions on that

Negative, I turn VC off, if you leave the VC on with the 150-600 it can sometimes create pixel level blurring depending on the way you are panning with the bird.