Male Prairie Falcon

This bird is a male Prairie Falcon that responded to a trap I had set to capture him. He was fitted with a GPS backpack, measured, and released for many more happy days hunting. These birds are very neat and are essentially built to fly and catch prey. He was banded with a leg band and hopefully becomes a long-lived study bird. All these activities are covered by state and federal permits.

1DM4, 1800mm macro, f 5.o, 1/400th and ISO 400. I lightened the contrast and warmed the image slightly to a normal plumage color pattern. AWESOME BIRD !