Red-tailed Hawk banking.

[Karl Egressy]

I took this picture yesterday. I had a few chances for flight pictures, not much for perching
unless you count the hunting on the ground.
I might post some pictures of her being on the ground later.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 1D MIV
Canon 300 f2.8 L IS
f 5.0
ISO 1600
1/1600 s
Manual setting.

[Doug Brown]

Love the talons, sharp eye, and nice look at the red tail feathers. How'd you pull this off with a 300mm lens?

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent banking pose captured.Love the colors,details,tail feathers and beautiful BG.
I like the sharp talons, BTW,did you leave the grass purposely (bit a bright) attached to it?

Regards,
Satish.

[Karl Egressy]

Love the talons, sharp eye, and nice look at the red tail feathers. How'd you pull this off with a 300mm lens?

Thanks Doug. This bird is an exceptionally friendly bird.
My photog friend tells me that he had never seen such a friendly RTHA in 35 years of his bird shooting experience.
I did have similar experiences before, but I'm a Hawk as my original name indicates it by my native tongue. (Hungarian)
The 500 is getting heavier by every passing year unfortunately so for hsnd holding my choice are the 300 or the 400 f5.6 L.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent banking pose captured.Love the colors,details,tail feathers and beautiful BG.
I like the sharp talons, BTW,did you leave the grass purposely (bit a bright) attached to it?


Regards,
Satish.

Thanks Satish. No, I just did not notice it until you pointed it out.

[gail bisson]

Lovely image.
Great colors in the BG as well.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

The lighting, colors, pose and BG are all great here. The richness and wonderful lighting on top of a handsome bird, a real winner!

I would tone down the stick as Satish mentioned, a minor blemish on a fine shot.

Serious congrats are in order on this one!

Cheers

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

Wonderful image, Karl. I love the lighting. I personally would sharpen the head every so slightly more for web viewing. Am loving your images of this beauty.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Karl, you have been posting some great images of this species, and just love the angled flight pose in this. Good eye contact, and I like the curled primaries of the near wing. I really like how the BG colours compliment the hawk too. Well captured.

Any day that you feel that your 500mm is getting too much for you, I will sent you my address, and would love to have it.

[Marina Scarr]

This is a super flight image and besides the pose, what I like most is the gorgeous BG. You also used a very nice comp.

[dankearl]

Spectacular fight image, Karl, just superb lighting, details and pose.
About a good as it gets.

[Nick Palmieri]

Great banking pose, nice light. Good exposure and sharpness. TFS

[Mike Landwehr]

Karl, the composition of this image is superb. A lovely diagonal. Love the colors, the feather detail, and the head angle. The light on the back edges of the wings, and on the tail feathers, really adds to this image. I'm a little confused about light direction. I'm having trouble imagining a light angle that provides the highlights on the back edges of the wing and tail feathers, yet leaves no significant shadows anywhere on the bird. Whether the image reflects a fortunate light angle or excellent post processing, I like the result!

[laurie golden]

It is a beautiful photograph and the lighting fantastic.

[Jack Breakfast]

Nice one Karl, truly beautiful! I would give anything to photograph a RT hawk like this!!!!!!

[Karl Egressy]

Thank you all.
I checked some previous frames. As she took off, some dry grass particles were falling off of her.
Now I removed the tiny grass particle from the claw, she is clean.
She just ate a Vole before this shot were taken.
The only hunt that was successful for the afternoon.
However, I left earlier this time as it was pretty cold.
The sky was covered but the light was pretty nice, indeed.
Thanks again.

[PhilCook]

This is amazingly sharp Karl and lighting to die for....just wonderful photography

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Karl! I like the details, sharpness, BG and composition.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot!!
Love the view of the open talons, wonderful background, nice details, and great repost.
Well done.

[Shawn Zierman]

You are shooting the world with this hawk!!
Another exceptionally brilliant image of this subject. Love the comp.

[David Salem]

Great job on this shot. Detail, exposure and great BG make for a awesome pic. Very nice!!

[christopher galeski]

nice one Karl,that BG is magic,love the banking pose,nice light,looks like it as had a meal recently,looking at its talons.well done.

[Corey Hayes]

very nice, one of the best Red tail shots I have seen in a while. Did you play with the background or is that how it game out of the camera? its very nice.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent, love the dynamic pose light and details

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Karl, great pose and light. Well exposed and well cropped. To have a friendly hawk must be a great feeling. I have never been so fortunate with raptors.