I haven’t seen many hawks in the last month or two, so I was delighted when I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) circling in the distance this past weekend.
Most of the hawks that I had previously seen at my local marsh have been Red-shouldered Hawks, but I am pretty sure this one is a Red-tailed. The hawk never came close enough for me to get a really good shot, but I am content that I was able to get some shots in which the hawk is recognizable as more than an indistinct blob in the distance. Several of the shots I am posting look almost like they have a rock formation in the background—it was only, however, a dead tree.
These images are aspirational ones for me. They represent the kind of photographs that I am working to be able to produce in the future with greater sharpness and more pixels (I had to do a lot of cropping). They are a step on the path of my journey into photography.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
I like the fact that you can see the underside of the wings clearly. That can be tough to accomplish with lighting from above and the bird too far away for a flash to matter.
Thanks. That’s been one of the real problems in photographing flying birds. The light has to be just right to keep everything from being lost in the shadows. I seem to get better results with vultures, because they circle slowly overhead and there are more chances to get shots.
Nice images Mike, you got to love it when everything come together for ya.
Beautiful bird! Say, how do you like that Sigma 135-400 lens? I decided I need more telephoto power now after shooting itty-bitty hummingbirds at 250 mm.
The Sigma lens is an older one that I bought used for a great price. It’s slow to focus, requires a lot of light, and doesn’t have image stabilization. Still, it can get some pretty good results. One of the guys that I shoot with uses a Canon SX-50, that has a 50x zoom (35mm equivalent of 24-1200mm). It is supposed to be ideal for birding, because it gives you the reach that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars to achieve with a DSLR. The down side is that it has a smaller sensor, so you can’t do the mega-sized blow-ups that you can get with a good DSLR. I do a pretty good amount of shooting with my Canon 55-250mm zoom. It has image stabilization, which helps.
Beautiful bird.
Indeed, now I just have to lure him closer!