steveshinn

Beautifully done, the bw and composition.. perfection!

Thanks all, Christal, sorry about the bad luck, they can be uncooperative. Please let me know when you get your shots posted shinnshots@gmail.com Thanks

Field notes; This event was photographed from a “car blind” at distance of over 170 meters. The photos are highly cropped so the image quality suffers but the event was exciting and amusing to watch. This subject had made several unsuccessful attempts using flying strike approach and the “ground perch, hop and pounce” technique which is fairly well known to this raptor. As shown, it literally comes down with one foot blasting into the dirt and down the hole as it attempts to grab a gopher. This event took place in an open field area. The last reported sighting of one of these birds in this area was several years ago although they have also been seen migrating through some other local areas. Since the Ferruginous hawk has the reputation of being the biggest buteo in North America, I’m guessing from the relative sizes of these two youngsters that the FEHA a male and the RTHA a female. The Red-tailed was a real badass; frequently observed approaching and attacking the Ferruginous. Bloody moochers! This individual is fairly approachable if it is in a tree and at least fifteen or twenty feet above ground. When on the ground, its flight zone is about 100 meters and approaching or pursuing it only causes it to delay or lose feeding opportunities as it escapes to a tree or some other area. A blind is best if you want to observe and not disturb it. Please browse the EXIF data for more technical information but briefly; the equipment used was a Canon7D Mark II with a Canon 500 mm lens. Since this camera has an ASP-C sensor the 1.6 crop factor (1.6 X 500 mm = 800 mm) the effect is similar to using an even larger lens. The time from this frame to the attack was less than 90 seconds. The bird ate ravenously, possibly anticipating an attack.