Red-tailed Hawk

Gallery: AvianPosted May 29, 20075,238 views27 comments

I was very happy to get this photo of a red tailed hawk landing yesterday. In my experience its much tougher to get a bird landing than taking off. This was taken Memorial Day in the cemetery where my father is buried, not far from his grave. He was an accomplished photographer, so I'd like to think I had a bit of help with this one. I cropped a slice off the left and the right.

20D 500IS+1.4X 1/2500 F5.6 iso 400, Manual Mode, A1 Servo, Handheld

Comments

27 comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on May 29, 2007 at 3:11 PM

Nate, I think this is an absolute beauty. Great ventral detail and it shows the bird's concentration with the landing process.

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

Comment posted by Jeroen Stel on May 29, 2007 at 3:55 PM

Great action shot! Maybe cropping this a bit more horizontal from the bottom would make the action even stronger.
Well done getting this moment on fim!

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel

Registered on November 10, 2003, 366 Posts, 481 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Canning on May 29, 2007 at 4:02 PM

Great composition, colors and pose - love it!

Registered on February 10, 2004, 88 Posts, 549 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on May 29, 2007 at 5:03 PM

Wonderful capture, Nate! I agree with you regarding getting birds landing is a very difficult task. I have not really had any success - actually, perhaps only one shot in thousands!

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

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on May 29, 2007 at 6:17 PM

Very cool Nate!! I agree...I've got 8 billiion shots of raptors flying away from me, but can't think of any I have like this.

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

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on May 29, 2007 at 7:05 PM

Great inage. I particularly like the capture.

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Mack Barham on May 29, 2007 at 7:30 PM

Wonderful shot! Good timing!

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

Comment posted by Tim McIntyre on May 29, 2007 at 8:51 PM

Great job Nate!

Registered on August 19, 2006, 85 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Joe Vincent on May 29, 2007 at 9:10 PM

Sweet!!

Registered on August 16, 2005, 69 Posts, 792 Comments

Comment posted by Anton Sorokin on May 29, 2007 at 10:17 PM

Excellent, i have only seen 1 or 2 shots of redtail hawks that would hold a candle to this one.

Registered on March 29, 2007, 41 Posts, 93 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on May 29, 2007 at 10:48 PM

Nate,
Congratulations on an excellent capture and composition!

Richard

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on May 29, 2007 at 11:11 PM

I agree that it seems to be harder to get landing shots rather than taking off. This one is great. Love those talons. Always amazing to watch a bird like this land in what looks like a tree limbs that should collapse, but they don't. Nicely done.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on May 29, 2007 at 11:11 PM

Oh yeah! This is great!

Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments

Comment posted by Vinod Chandra on May 30, 2007 at 12:03 AM

Great shot....

Registered on December 21, 2006, 30 Posts, 522 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Dance on May 30, 2007 at 12:16 AM

Very cool Nate

Registered on April 7, 2005, 65 Posts, 428 Comments

Comment posted by chris hajee on May 30, 2007 at 3:02 AM

beautiful shot Nate

Registered on January 18, 2005, 179 Posts, 2384 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on May 30, 2007 at 3:13 AM

Excellent image Nate.

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

Comment posted by John Chapman on May 30, 2007 at 5:41 AM

Superb image Nate and the tree adds to the picture.

Registered on June 19, 2004, 100 Posts, 1473 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on May 30, 2007 at 9:28 AM

Sweetness

Supper nice Nate!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Ganesh H Shankar on May 30, 2007 at 10:25 AM

Beautiful image Nate ! A well freezed moment

Registered on March 1, 2004, 324 Posts, 1867 Comments

Comment posted by Graeme Lee on May 30, 2007 at 5:00 PM

Well you should be happy with this Nate!!! The exposure is bang on...good skills

Registered on May 8, 2006, 85 Posts, 641 Comments

Comment posted by raymond j barlow on July 1, 2007 at 7:24 AM

very nice shot!

Registered on March 29, 2007, 218 Posts, 964 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 8, 2007 at 12:14 AM

Beautiful, Nate! A great angle to get his/her intent expression too..
Sandy r

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on November 25, 2007 at 6:33 PM

Beautifully captured action shot, Nate.

WOW!

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Christina Craft on November 30, 2007 at 7:36 PM

Amazing capture - the sharpness is awe-inspiring. Love the action!

Registered on March 4, 2007, 75 Posts, 201 Comments

Comment posted by Jose Suro on November 30, 2007 at 8:54 PM

Beautiful Nate! I like the concentration in the eyes. This is one of my nemesis birds as well so I'm doubly envious. I'm sure your Dad would be proud.

Best,

Jose

Registered on June 24, 2006, 267 Posts, 2273 Comments

Comment posted by Andrey Antov on April 4, 2008 at 10:00 PM

Nicely captured and exposed. Congrats.

Registered on March 18, 2008, 292 Posts, 341 Comments