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Red-tailed Hawk
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Red-tailed Hawk

by Dennis Plank

Gallery: AvianPosted March 26, 2015134 views4 comments
I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Looks like a juvenile to me. My first real stop on my trip was Bosque del Apache. I was too late for hordes of Cranes and Snow Geese, but there were still some interesting things to shoot. This bird was perched almost completely unobscured with the very busy bg of the cottonwoods. When he took off, it was almost sideways to my position and I was able to get a couple of shots in before it disappeared. I'm not sure whether the busy bg totally ruins this for people or not. I find it rather interesting, but I'm sure others have different opinions.

7Dii, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, bean bag on windowsill, iso 800, f5.6, 1/1600, Aperture Priority, no exposure compensation. Cropped to 8.8MP from the original 20. Taken February 15th at 7:22 am.

Comments and criticisms are much appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 27, 2015 at 12:11 AM
Fairly decent shot of the RTH, despite the large crop and busy BG. The flight pose is the best part. :smile:
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by Hans Overduin on March 27, 2015 at 3:29 AM
The BG seems rather busy on the small version, but once I opened up the larger version I appreciated it for what it was: natural BG and due to the darker colors the hawk stands out nicely enough. A good alternative for the classical shots against the sky or smooth BG. The longer I look at it, the better I like it :smile: , Cheers, Hans
Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 27, 2015 at 6:09 PM
Yes, the larger version separates the hawk nicely from the background plus you've got good sharpness on the bird's body from head nearly to tail.
Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments
Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on March 28, 2015 at 4:26 PM
Nice timing of catching him as he defends Dennis. I do of course wish the BG wasn't so busy, but can't have everything right? Still nice job on this, the techs look good.
Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments