I've never had any luck with species, but on this occasion, rather than angling and flying away from my stopped vehicle this Norrthern Harrier came flying right towards me. At the very last moment it realized what it had gotten close to, and bolted away by banking very hard to its right...but not before I had had a good opportunity to get good photographs Next time I come across this species I will need to try David's tips found in Bill's recent harrier thread...
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2500s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld from car, small crop top and right to help the composition, a faint oof grass blade removed from the BG.
Hi Dan, kudos for capturing this from your vehicle, as I know how hard it is to capture a flying subject, and all you have is the space of your window to manoeuvre your lens. Great head turn, and I really like the extended near wing. Overall well exposed and tack sharp, and gotta love that BG. Very well captured.
I never managed to learn how to swing the big gun from the car.
Sometimes I had a 400 f5.6 L lens with the 7D to shoot BIF from the car with better success.
Excellent BIF shot of this hard to shoot species, Daniel.
Very nice Daniel!! Looks like she got pretty close as you got some nice details in this. Gosh knows how many frames I have of Harriers looking down or another direction. That squeezing tip works great on a lot of individuals. Be ready because they can turn and come straight at you. Arash was out for the last few days and we shot a ton of Harriers and the squeaking and the call helped a bunch. Actually caught us off guard a few time as they came to close to fast. After they fall for the call a few times, you are done. Usually best the first time you see an individual. Need to be pretty loud too as the wind and distance can block or deaden the sound. Good luck!
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