Red-tailed Hawk Family and Prey

[Jim Neiger]

Southern Idaho - 1Dx, 600mm+1.4xTC, hand held from car window, 1/1600, F6.3, ISO 1250, manual exposure. I removed some of the distracting clutter around the nest.

This image was made last month during my Idaho Wild Birds of Prey workshop. In this image mama hawk is leaving the nest with the remainder of a ground squirrel. The babies had already eaten their fill and mama is taking the prey somewhere else to finish her breakfast. It was still very early in the morning and this was the second squirrel of the day.

[David Salem]

What a great looking frame Jim. Lots to look at and I really like the pose with the prey in the adults beak and seeing the chicks in the nest. Man this bird sure is in heavy molt. Look at all those new primaries and deck feathers(the two center tail feathers) coming in. Nice work. I will have to call soon to find out how Idaho went. BFAM

[William Dickson]

Lovely capture Jim. Love the flight pose on the adult and the wee ones look cute. Nice detail throughout the image.

Will

[Adhika Lie]

This frame for me is very dynamic. I really like the bird's position in the frame and the action that accompanies its position. Beautiful, Jim!

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous!! Has everything -- sharp detail, great tonalities, wonderful placement of the mother and babies to tell the story.

[Glenn Conlan]

Great timing with nest, prey, babies and mother all in great position. Looks like a young mother that is just now going through her first moult (immature tail feathers with the center deck feathers now new adult feathers)

[Arthur Morris]

Great frame, great dorsal view, and a great explanation by Glenn.

a