Ferruginous Hawk Nest

[David Salem]

I had the great opportunity to meet a friend in southern Wyoming to photograph some raptor nests a few weeks ago. My friend Glenn and I met our buddy Steve in Wyoming and he had everything set up for us and scouted before we got there so our short trip was very productive. We had four Golden eagle nests, a great Prairie falcon eyrie in an eye level cliff site, a Redtail nest in a eye level cliff site and this awesome Ferruginous Hawk nest on top of a beautiful rock column in the middle of the sage desert. It enabled a fantastic vantage point looking down into the nest with the distant green spring desert in the BG. This female is a dark morph and her mate was a normal colored one. The chicks are about two weeks old. This pair was nesting in the most wild of country and they were very spooky of any human presence. We luckily got these frames on our last morning of the three day trip. I wish I had the time to get back up there to see all four of the chicks at fledging age.

1DX---600mm---f8---ss1/1250---ISO640---shot on bean bag@8:25am---20% crop

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

David

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, a nice sighting and a great bonus to have the chicks. Lovely clean backdrop which adds to the separation of the adult & chicks and I very much like the body posture/angle of the adult.

Just check your web settings for embedded profile, if you upgraded or implemented the recent updates to the latest version of PSCC2015 you may need to reset your 'Colour settings, etc' as they will have defaulted.

Nice one.

TFS
Steve

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I just watched a documentary on the Sage Brush Grouse and I think these were in it and the Golden Eagles. How lucky for you mate! I love these intimate shots. Did you guys use hides? I would think so.
I love those fuzzy chicks. So adorable.
Thanks for sharing. Really nicely done David!

[Karl Egressy]

Such a great opportunity and a wonderful image of the babies and the mother, David. Great to have eye contact with three of them, beautiful background and excellent IQ.
Great as is but loosing about 15 mm from the bottom might be better.

[Marina Scarr]

This opportunity and nest is simply AMAZING and I am green with envy!!! Terrific setting, nest, BG & poses. I just brought this image into PS and did some burning to the left and front of the nest and some dodging on the right. What an amazing difference it makes on an already strong image. The brightness of the nesting material on the left is a bit overpowering. Give it a try and see what you think. Did you add a catch light to the eye of the left chick? Can't wait to see more, David. Huge congrats on this one.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful image, David. I love how the chicks have that stern hawkish expression even as fuzzballs. Great opportunity, well captured.

[dankearl]

I can see a slight crop off the bottom, but what a great find for you.
This is almost like cheating..........

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, you sure get around, and of course, you always pull off the shots at your locations. Great eye level perspective here, great detail on the chicks, and great to see a good looking mom overseeing her family. Thats a lovely clean BG too. Congrats, and looking forward to your other sightings.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone. I have a few different comps. I did this to show the lichens on the rocks. I will post the tighter one for your comments and critique. Thanks again

[gail bisson]

All I have to say is " May I please go with you next year? Or give me Steve's number!"
Seriously, this is awesome.
great light, great HA's on all the birds, terrific BG and an amazingly clean BG.
Agree with a bit off the bottom.
Looking forward to more and I will have to get used to my jealousy bone aching +++...
Gail

[David Salem]

Here is another comp that I processed when I first got back. What do you like better? I like both for obvious different reasons.
Thanks in advance for your input.

[David Salem]

Oh, I also took Marinas suggestions and dodged the nest on the right and burned it on the left. Looks much better. Thanks Marina!

Akos, Yes we used blinds and remote controls to get these shots. Thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Both work nicely, but I really like the colour that the lichen adds on the OP. The chick at left needs a better catchlight in both versions IMO. Sometimes it can be tough to get all good head angles with a group...you got them all here! Fantastic opportunity, well taken advantage of!!

[David Salem]

Thanks Daniel. I edited the second post to reduce the size of the catch light. It was a faint one in the original and I think I over enhanced it a bit. Thanks

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful... thank you for sharing, David.

[keith mitchell]

David the OP is the one for me after saying that I would be more than happy with your repost, excellent work.

Keith.

[Richard Flack]

Cracker image David, prefer the second one as found the yellow and white rock a bit distracting. This one is much cleaner. Love the overall scene and what a blessing to be able to observe these guys!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Killer content, light quality and techs, Dave. What a gorgeous family. Looking forward to more.
I honestly seem to prefer the OP in terms of comp. I seem to be going against the grain today :)

[Robert Kimbrell]

Wow what a capture David, I also like the lichen in the first post, But feel the second is stronger, as it displays those beautiful chicks better as not pulling your eye from the nest. 10 of 10 for me.

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone for the comments. I appreciate your time.

[shane shacaluga]

What a beauty, you have captured the scene very nicely

Sharp across all subjects and good details.

I prefer the OP as it gives a sense of place. In the RP the nest could be anywhere, up a tree etc

The whites on the back of the chick on the right look a bit bright on my screen, maybe you can pull even more detail there from the raw

TFS

[Marina Scarr]

For me it's the OP hands down with some adjustments as mentioned above. While I love portraits, I usually lean toward images that reveal more of the bird's natural environment.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image David! I like the IQ, details, nest, BG and lichens in the OP. Both versions are appealing. You made the most of this special opportunity.

[arash_hazeghi]

what a shot man, love everything. I wish I was there...

I also prefer the OP but I would reduce the contrast a bit.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nicely done. Good looking family and love those tiny chicks. I find the light a tad harsh on them so I am with Arash as to it would be good to reduce contrast.

[Gabriela Plesea]

David - this is SUPERB! I just adore those little fuzzballs, and you have captured so much expression from adult as well as chicks! Love the small one in the middle who appears to be grooming itself - too cute:)

Beautiful frame and my vote goes for the RP, I enjoyed viewing so many images in this forum tonight but this was my treat for the evening - love your processing and presentation, well exposed, great PP work, lovely colours and the BG has a dramatic feel to it - thank you so much for sharing, what a pleasure to view

Warmest regards,

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone for all the comments and help. Appreciate it.

[Satish Ranadive]

Sweet image of sweet little ones. Love the re post.
Looking for more...TFS.

Regards,
Satish.