Wildlife Photography

[Granny Hatchet]

@Wishing4Wings Awesome pictures.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Month old red tailed hawk on its way to bird rescue.
View attachment 2121564

You found this guy ?

 

[Wishing4Wings]

You found this guy ?

#2 son found him on the road... got grazed by a car that #2 was trying to get to slow down. Stupid driver. No nest could be found in the area, so after healing up at bird rescue, they found another set of red tailed parents raising similar aged chicks, and he went to live with them. We see that nest frequently, and were hoping to see the parents with new chicks this year, but nothing so far.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

#2 had to put the angry fella in the trunk.

NOT a happy camper!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

#2 son found him on the road... got grazed by a car that #2 was trying to get to slow down. Stupid driver. No nest could be found in the area, so after healing up at bird rescue, they found another set of red tailed parents raising similar aged chicks, and he went to live with them. We see that nest frequently, and were hoping to see the parents with new chicks this year, but nothing so far.

Thats amazing !

 

[mdees88]

Woke up at 230 this morning and drove 45 minutes to a less light polluted area to try and get some pics of the meteor shower. But between the full moon, the clouds, and the fog, it turned out to be a bust. Saw a couple meteors and ended up getting a couple pics of the milky way but that's it.

I was a little bummed by the time I got back to the house. When I got out of my truck I noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye and I saw a hawk land in a tree above my pond. It was still early and there wasn't much light to work with but I was able to get a few pics of him. He sat in this tree for about 5 minutes, surveying the pond, while I snuck a little closer to him.

Then he flew down on the dam and did a cool, wings back, chest out pose that but he was behind a bunch of branches. Then he jumped up and swooped down into the edge of the water and grabbed a frog.

He just stood there about 30yds from me with the frog in his talons, taking a couple bites of him here and there.

I slowly eased down the steep slope to the very edge of the water because I wanted to try and get eyelevel with him. I made it one step from the water and he had enough and flew off. It was a pretty good ending to a total meteor bust.

 

[mdees88]

Well he came back just a minute go so I brought my teleconverter this time. I was able to get a slightly more zoomed in shot with it. He was very cooperative until a couple bluejays started pestering him. He finally had enough of them and flew off.....

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Wow. Fantastic action shot! It ain't easy being green.

Do you know what type it is? Maybe a Merlin?
I find the small hawks very hard to id, but you get such great pictures.

 

[mdees88]

Wow. Fantastic action shot! It ain't easy being green.

Do you know what type it is? Maybe a Merlin?
I find the small hawks very hard to id, but you get such great pictures.

I'm not an expert but I'm leaning towards a broad winged hawk. I just checked and it does look a lot like a Merlin but I see these guys flying high above my yard every couple of days and the underside of their wings look like broadwinged hawks. Also the the Merlin's feet are very long, this one's feet seem like a pretty normal length.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Wow everybody. Just wow.

I've always wanted to get into wildlife photography, but life got in the way. I've especially wanted to try my hand at macro.

My favourite class when I was studying TV broadcasting was actually photography (it was to help us understand the basics to be able to use the studio and field cameras to their fullest potential). Digital didn't exist back then.

I've got one of the 1st digital professional cameras that a friend of mine gave me. It's really big and drains batteries something fierce. Also, it only has 1 static lens, so I tend not to bother with it.