Caracara

Gallery: AvianPosted December 20, 2010210 views21 comments

From a recent outing. This caracara was nice enough to fly by me and show me the fish it found. I was watching this bird's mate perched on a snag some ways off hoping it would end up flying past me. I saw this bird coming from a ways off and it flew right to the bird on the snag dipping down to show it the fish and then flew on past me. The bird on the snag followed right behind this bird. Interesting behaviour. I ended up getting images of both birds as they came by. Please view the larger version for the best detail.

Canon 1DM4
500mm f/4 + 1.4x TC
ISO 800
1/3200s
f/6.3
Manual exp.
HH
65% of FF
No NR

Comments

21 comments

Comment posted by Sally King on December 20, 2010 at 8:32 AM

That is amazing. Beautiful flight form. Excellent details and catchlight. Must have been cool to see this. I have only seen these birds at the zoo.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on December 20, 2010 at 8:43 AM

A wonderful, high quality image & story Ron. Nice work anticipating its behavior and that resulted in the fine image, well done

PS just noticed a dust bunny LLC

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on December 20, 2010 at 9:16 AM

Love the look at the eye and the dead fish is a good bonus... exposure looks perfect and details are nice.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on December 20, 2010 at 11:26 AM

Well done, again!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Giorgio Gregori on December 20, 2010 at 11:35 AM

Ecellent image , Ron .
Beautiful wingspread , light and look.
Giorgio

Registered on November 16, 2007, 87 Posts, 793 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Jenkins on December 20, 2010 at 2:00 PM

Great detail and lighting on this one. Very nice shot, Ron.

Registered on April 20, 2008, 307 Posts, 604 Comments

Comment posted by Joe Paratore on December 20, 2010 at 2:24 PM

What a beautiful bird!!!
Nice job with the exposure Ron. I noticed two different colored ring bands on his claw.
Has he been banned twice? Or once, and each color means something about the bird?
What a thrill to get a shot of this spieces and in Flight.!!!!

Registered on January 31, 2007, 40 Posts, 160 Comments

Comment posted by Mack Barham on December 20, 2010 at 5:10 PM

Great shot! Who is banding Caracaras???

Registered on August 12, 2005, 537 Posts, 1107 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on December 20, 2010 at 5:16 PM

That is interesting behavior. Looks great in the large version where you can see all the detail necessary. Love that eye.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on December 20, 2010 at 5:34 PM

Great camera work Ron

Well done.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 20, 2010 at 5:41 PM

I don't recall seeing a shot of this species carrying food before - neat!.

I noticed two different colored ring bands on his claw. Has he been banned twice? Or once, and each color means something about the bird?

Such combinations of bands are often used so birds can be observed at a distance and still provide information without the need to recapture the bird to read the numbers. Viewers should note the colors used, the order of the colors, and which leg or legs they are on.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on December 20, 2010 at 7:27 PM

Very nice wing position and light Ron. Carrying the fish piece is a bonus, enhanced by the fact that it's carried against the sky background. Great eye contact also and I enjoyed your account of how you got the image.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on December 20, 2010 at 9:41 PM

Terrific angle on this guy, coming towards the camera with a great look at the face, eye, and fish Neat capture!!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on December 21, 2010 at 12:43 AM

Terrific work, Ron, especially the larger photo.

Wherever you got the photo, you should contact birders and find out who is banding Caracaras. Two or three color bands allow you to identify individual birds in the field. It's my personal curse that too many of the birds I photograph turn out to be color banded. Even a Brown Skua in the Falkland Islands...

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on December 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM

Excellent!

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by mark cillo on December 21, 2010 at 10:42 AM

Awesome shot! Great pose and light

Registered on July 27, 2008, 143 Posts, 1483 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on December 21, 2010 at 12:16 PM

Ron,
wonderful capture, very well executed.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on December 21, 2010 at 2:30 PM

Looks like this camera is working very well for flight shots Ron. The detail and sharpness looks terrific. Very envious. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by wade pettitt on December 21, 2010 at 5:26 PM

Great shot ron, love the eye detail, and I notice the bird is wearing some jewelery.

Registered on May 6, 2009, 184 Posts, 471 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on December 21, 2010 at 8:57 PM

Great image of this bird. Great detail in the face and I like the fish. I know they are (just) scavengers, but they have the beauty and grace of the raptors. Well done.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on December 22, 2010 at 6:11 AM

I like the detail and eye contact in the LP Ron, great light too..
It's been a pleasure to view your work this past year

Merry Christmas!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments