Peregrine Falcon

[David Salem]

This was taken a few years ago when a friend and I had bumped this second year female Peregrine off of her kill as we drove by. We did not see her in the tall grass. It was a great encounter because she didn't get to scared of the stopped truck and she flew back around us three times almost hovering in front of us looking for the dove that she left behind. My friend and I got a bunch of great shots of her out of the truck window at almost full frame and we couldn't believe our good fortune to get this close to a wild Peregrine.
Once she was sure we weren't a threat, she came down and grabbed the dove and flew off to a open field.

1DMkIV---700mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO 500---HH from truck@8:15am---15% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[David Salem]

Forgot to mention how I made the determination that she was a second year bird. First year hawks and falcons are known as ''Brown Hawks" because of their overall brown feather color. Once they molt into their first year adult plumage, they sometimes leave a few brown feathers behind, as seen on the top of her left wing. This would almost certainly be gone by the second molt.

Thanks again for looking.

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely morning light on this bird. Nice and sharp with a very pleasing background. I like the stare to the ground with extended wings

Nicely done and TFS

PS Any idea what peregrine subspecies this is?

[Girish Prahalad]

excellent intense pose with good wing position. Light, Bg & IQ are excellent.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comments Guys.

Shane, This is a female Anatum Peregrine (falco peregrinus anatum) This is probably the most widely spread subspecies of peregrine in the U.S.

[arash_hazeghi]

superb pose and details, and what a lovely BG. excellent as usual Dave

[Loi Nguyen]

Fantastic shot David with great details and in good light. The vertical crop is a bit tight, but I understand this is almost FF. Loi

[Roy Priest]

David, great pose and determined look in her eyes. Complimentary BG looks great.

[William Dickson]

Amazing colours. Everything blends great. Fab work and thanks for sharing

Will

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Great diving pose, awesome light and super details. Love the comp and BG.

[John Robinson]

All been said David
Great light and bird angle./like the BG too.
john

[Joseph Przybyla]

I echo all the previous comments. Lovely image David. Looking at the image I wondered about flipping the vertical for a horizontal, great either way.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments!!

Joseph, I did try this as a landscape but the bird needed a fair amount of space below to look into so I settled for the vertical. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Explains everything, thank you for responding.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent flight shot with good wing position, David. The background color is nicely complimenting the bird.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, love the light in this, and you have captured a great pose. Sharp with excellent detail throughout, and thats a killer BG too.

[Carl Walker]

Stunning soft BG and look down searching pose. great capture David.

[steve torna]

Awesome! I appreciate the soft unexaggerated natural colors of the subject and background. It is sharp and detailed and yet does NOT have an over processed appearance. To me this is a tastefully composed and developed image; I would display this in my home. - steve-

[Jim Crosswell]

Great IQ, details, complimentary BG and composition. Excellent image David!

[gail bisson]

Do you ever take a bad shot?...
The colors in this image is what I like best.
Of course, the IQ, light, species help a bit too!!
Gail

[Raybel Robles]

Beautiful work. Lovely colors and nice BG to go with the bird. Love the composition as it adds space down below to where the Falcon is looking at. Superb stuff!

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments!

Gail, Thanks for the nice comment! But rest assured, I take a ton of crappy shots, I just do a lot of deleting!!

[Doug Brown]

Cool encounter, and you made the most of it with a great frame!

[keith mitchell]

David another stunning piece of work from you.
keith.

[David Salem]

Thanks Doug, that was the same female we photograph together when we had the heat refraction issue last year.

Thanks Keith, I aways appreciate your comments.