Kestrel and Friends

PrescottPhotog

Hi Everyone..

Yesterday when I shot "Carry-Out" it was a feeding frenzy for the hawks because of all the rain we received lately raising the lake level and stranding all the 4 legged critters.

As I was sitting under the tree this little American Kestrel kept landing in the tree directly over my head. He would sit there, spot a mouse and then dive down to get it about 30 to 40 feet in front of me. I was shooting my 500 mm on a tripod and couldn't capture him because he was to fast. So I took the 500 off the tripod and shot the first two hand held. The one in the tree almost broke my nose and glasses because I had to wait for him to look down at me (which he wouldn't do) and I was shooting through a bunch of branches.. so I was balancing that 13 pounds (lens, camera, plates and tripod mount) on my forehead, straight up, for about 10 minutes.. and that hurts.

I never caught him with a mouse because each time he caught one he would fly off to a different location, chow down and then fly back to the tree. You can tell from the photos (quite bloody on the beak, talons and tail) that he was having a very successful day. The 1st shot is uncropped.

The 3rd shot I got today when this little guy landed in the grass in front of me looking for mice. He posed for quite a while. Not sure what it was but one of the guys from the local Audubon thinks it might be a Merlin. I'm not sure cause I never got a look at his back. When he took off it was through the grass.

The 4th shot is to show all the eagle shooters why I can't get a good picture of the local eagles. They show up and sit all the way on the other side of the lake on these boulders.. all day long. This is shot with my 500 + 1.4 and is an uncropped shot about 1/4 mile or more away. The sheer rock face the eagle is sitting on goes down about another 150 feet before it hits the water. No access from any direction, so they have a perfect and very safe place that overlooks the whole lake. Sometimes there are 3 to 4 of them sitting there. I've waited for hours, never moving.. but they seldom venture far from the cliffs. They can also hunt 4 legged critters directly behind these boulders and never see a human. Oh well.. I'll catch them some day.

#1

#2

#3

#4

kgarrett11

Good shots. #2 is awesome.

Giphsub

I love #1

NanaMo

Wow....what great shots.....I admire your patience!!

clap

Maureen

jonh68

Nice!

Ric Grupe

#2 is awesome...caught 'em right in the glide before the next power stroke. clap

samuel wong

i love the 2nd pic . Good compo....

GBZee

Great captures. I really like the POV on the first shot...wonderful detail.
Well Done!
Regards,

Harryb

Outstanding set, love the kestrel captures.

Vycor

Im looking to venture into a 500mm zoom lense... what kinda lense are you using there?

PrescottPhotog

kgarrett11 wrote:

Good shots. #2 is awesome.

Hi KGarrett11.. Thanks for your compliment.

PrescottPhotog

Giphsub wrote:

I love #1

Hi Mike.. Thanks for viewing. #1 was tough, the wind kept blowing the branches in my way so the lens kept re-focusing. Then he wouldn't look down at me. I got about 5 shots and all the rest are blurred because of the branches.. or his head isn't in the shot.

PrescottPhotog

NanaMo wrote:

Wow....what great shots.....I admire your patience!! clap Maureen

Hi Maureen.. Thank you for your nice compliments. I was very happy with the results.

PrescottPhotog

jonh68 wrote:

Nice!

Hi John.. Thanks for viewing.

PrescottPhotog

Ric Grupe wrote:

#2 is awesome...caught 'em right in the glide before the next power stroke. clap

Hi Ric.. You are right, I got one other shot on his beginning downstroke and it isn't near as nice or graceful looking.

PrescottPhotog

samuel wong wrote:

i love the 2nd pic . Good compo....

Hi Samuel.. Thank you for viewing and you compliment.

PrescottPhotog

GBZee wrote:

Great captures. I really like the POV on the first shot...wonderful detail. Well Done! Regards,

Hi George.. Thanks for viewing and for your compliments.

PrescottPhotog

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding set, love the kestrel captures.

Hi Harry.. Thanks for your comment. I really like shooting these guys, they have many different looks, cute and vicious come to mind.

PrescottPhotog

Vycor wrote:

Im looking to venture into a 500mm zoom lense... what kinda lense are you using there?

Hi Vycor.. I use the Canon 500mm f/4 IS. It's a toss up between the 300 2.8 IS and 500 as to which one is sharper. I give the 300 an edge.

I shoot the 300 2.8 IS + 1.4 II extender hand held a lot. That gives you a 420mm f/4 not counting your sensor size. It is much easier to shoot hand held (much shorter and lighter), the focus is still very fast and shots are still tack sharp even with the extender.. plus it is a lot less money. That gives you have one of the best lenses Canon ever made 300mm 2.8 and with the extender you have just a bit less reach than a 500 but also about half the weight.

I shoot the 300 2.8 without an extender and all you have to do is take the shots out of your camera.. crop them and post them. It is an unbelievably sharp lens.

See these links for a 300 2.8 shot, no extender.
http://crd.smugmug.com/gallery/2676478#172835304
or this one..
http://crd.smugmug.com/gallery/2676478#172331395

jwear

a fun day and great shots --well done but what is that red circle

PrescottPhotog

jwear wrote:

a fun day and great shots --well done but what is that red circle

That's the new AF system on my camera, it's the most accurate in the world.. Anything inside the circle is OOF, anything outside is OOF too. From the way I read the manual it never misses.

Giphsub

BigAl

Very nice shots Chris!

I too am waiting patiently for my first decent eagle pic :cry

dbaker1221

you lucky dog teriffic kestral shots

PrescottPhotog

BigAl wrote:

Very nice shots Chris!
I too am waiting patiently for my first decent eagle pic :cry

Hi Al.. Thanks for the compliment. Today there were 3 to 4 definite and possibly a fifth bald eagle sitting on the boulders, same place. One sat there all day long, two circled overhead and when I looked over there were two still sitting. They were tag-teaming all day but never came close enough for a shot.

PrescottPhotog

dbaker1221 wrote:

you lucky dog teriffic kestral shots

Hi Dave.. Thanks for your compliment. I was excited about both shots. I got about 5 or 6 of him in the tree but they were either blocked by branches or he wasn't looking down and all you could see was his body. This was the only one that came out decent.

jwear

PrescottPhotog wrote:

That's the new AF system on my camera, it's the most accurate in the world.. Anything inside the circle is OOF, anything outside is OOF too. From the way I read the manual it never misses.

the great early version on a new canon I heard about that every thing outside the view finder is in focus and anything you shoot is :cry