Roughlegged Hawk w/prey

Gallery: AvianPosted March 27, 2011163 views9 comments

I watched this roughleg hunting a field for several minutes. Mostly out of range of camera. Fortunately when it captured a vole, it passed by within decent range to get a few shots. The lighting was very interesting. There were storm clouds overhead but the horizon was clear and the low sun was shining under the clouds. There was snow on the ground reflecting the sunlight onto the underside of the bird.

Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1000s f/7.1 at 550.0mm(400mm w/1.4x TC) iso500

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on March 27, 2011 at 9:31 AM

neat shot, Dan--I really like how it's got a bunch of grass along with the vole--makes me feel like this is just after the capture. looks like a difficult exposure handled well--that bright crown is always difficult on raptors. hard to judge detail at the smaller size.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by richard remington on March 27, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Dan,

Great action shot with the grass and vole together. It does appear this was seconds after he caught the little rodent. Great capture!

Rick

Registered on March 12, 2010, 105 Posts, 368 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on March 27, 2011 at 10:33 AM

A little vegetation with his meat! Nice lit up view of the underside. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 27, 2011 at 12:51 PM

Overall I like the capture and the comp. The underside did get great light. May be a tad over sharpened for me

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 27, 2011 at 2:42 PM

I go along with Brian G on this shot Dan. Love the grey sky BG. Sure would like to see a larger version to judge detail and sharpness.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Roberts on March 27, 2011 at 3:50 PM

Thanks for the comments. Sorry I didn't post a larger version. The detail isn't all that great anyway as this was about a 50% crop and was shot at ISO 500. Here is about as large as I could get it within the 720px size limit.

I captured a whole series of this guy hunting. Unfortunately when he dove to snatch the vole I lost focus due to a high contrast background (birch tree forest) that he passed in front of.

Registered on March 9, 2011, 69 Posts, 501 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on March 27, 2011 at 6:34 PM

Killer light. Shows all the interesting detail. Good action image.

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

Comment posted by Hali Sowle on March 27, 2011 at 8:16 PM

Nice capture Dan, that grass with the vole is great. You really got the exposure and the detail in the coloration against the sky is well done!

Registered on January 9, 2008, 36 Posts, 582 Comments

Comment posted by RL Potts on March 28, 2011 at 10:35 PM

The lighting on this is interesting. We get a few of these guys down this way in the winter. Two birds with one stone? I really like the Redpoll. I envy the northern exposure you have going.

Registered on November 24, 2003, 188 Posts, 985 Comments