Ferruginous Hawk

[David Salem]

We had the pleasure of having this guy hanging out in my area for a month or more last year. He is a juvenile and he was ultra cooperative. He hunted gophers by watching for subtle movement of the dirt from the gophers underground, then he would make bombing runs at them. When he got to the exact spot he would throw his feet and talons out and hit the dirt with an explosion of soil and grass. We watched him do this lots of times but I never witnessed him score.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO800---HH@8:15am---30% crop

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

David

[annmpacheco]

This has it all, fantastic wing spread and fanned tail. The BG, the look , and your skill. Hope to get to one of your workshops. Wow.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent flight pose with fully stretch wings, nice head turn and fanned tail, David.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Killer wing + tail spread, killer look back pose. Love the details and that graduated BG. Spectacular!
Nicely done Dave.

[Loi Nguyen]

David, this is a stunning image, beautiful wing spread, eye contact, top side, and a killer BG. Congrats! Surprised to hear that the hawk missed many times. Poor hawk! Loi

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate them.

Loi,
At first I thought he was trying for insects on the ground but after a bunch of attempts I realized that he should be coming up with some of them and I didn't know why he was hitting the ground so hard.
I then figured what he was doing when I noticed dirt movement on a small mound, and so did he. He was off in a flash after the subterranean prey!!
Thanks

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, love the angle and look back pose. Superb detail and very nicely exposed too. One question, how big in frame is the subject in the original capture, or is this almost FF, or slight crop?

Nice to see back & posting.

TFS
Steve

[shane shacaluga]

Cracking image! Pose, stare, composition and BG all work for me on this one!

TFS

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi David,
A real stunner, this one! Fantastic view of the top of the wings and that splayed tail - just superb.
Also enjoyed the background information on his hunting - hope he finally caught enough to get by!

Regards, Gerald

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Steve,

I figured it was about a 30% crop so not full frame but moderately close. I caught him as he was headed back to his perch after a gopher run. This is a pretty big bird on the wing and even though he is smaller than the female of his species, they are the largest hawk (Buteo) in North America.
Thanks as always for your input.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks David, just interested.

[gail bisson]

Wow! Another killer image.
What's not to like?
Great HA, wing pose, and BG.

Gail

[Glenn Conlan]

"Freddie" was a very accommodating subject and this really was a great frame with perfect head angle and wing position, layered BG is nice, hope EL Nino doesn't slow us down!

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful frame of a great raptor. Well done, as is your norm, Dave.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight shot.

Regards,
Satish.

[Gerald Gardebled]

Nice capture and good sharpness.

[Raybel Robles]

Superb, love the over the shoulder back at you look!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the fanned tail, eye contact, IQ, layered BG and composition. A real beauty David!

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone for the comments. I'm glad you like the frame.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, I really like the light and IQ, and you have captured an awesome flight pose with a good head turn and eye contact. I also like the banking angle showing off the full wingspread, which in turn shows up the feather detail and colours. Killer smooth OOF BG too. Very well captured.