Grenfell

Red Tailed Hawk

Captured this Red-tailed Hawk as he was actively hunting Field Mice along a public Boardwalk in Burlington, Ontario

Captured this Red-tailed Hawk as he was actively hunting Field Mice along a public Boardwalk in Burlington, Ontario
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Canon EOS 5D Mark III

settings

Aperture f/5 ISO 400 Shutter 1/800 Focal Length 500/1

upload_date

Dec, 2015

Views

5668

Likes

+1.8k

Awards

Chatter Award

Zenith Award

Creative Winter Award

Curator's Selection

Featured

Contest Finalist in Freshmen 2016 Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Open Wings Photo Contest

Curator's Choice

Peer Award

+337

Absolute Masterpiece

+211

Top Choice

+154

Superb Composition

+149

Magnificent Capture

+120

Superior Skill

+65

Love it

+52

Outstanding Creativity

+41

All Star

+25

Genius

Virtuoso

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Wonderful capture !

Magnificent capture! WoW!

Great capture! Congrats.

Such an amazing capture

Fantastic image.

PRO+

Fabulous shot

Ultimate

Awesome shot

Wow, wonderful action frozen in a moment of time.

Pretty work!

Luv this shot ! I see we are both Canon Shooters, like birds & live in Burlington Ontario. Small World Bill !

WOW! Amazing capture

Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!

Excellent flight shot.

Brilliant shot.

As good as it gets

Outstanding photography!

Beautiful action shot!

spectacular

Wow

Amazing!

wow!

As of today, this is my favorite bird shot on view bug.....magnificient

Brilliant capture & Photography. Well done!

WOW !

WOW, amazing

Fabulous Bill !!!

Amazing!!

Wow!

Outstanding! Bravo!

Great shot congrats

Platinum

Terrific capture!

Platinum

Totally Outstanding Composition! Beautiful flight shot with excellent technicals.

See all

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Behind The Lens

Location

This image was taken a couple of years ago along a public boardwalk, through a marsh area, in Hamilton Ontario. People like to, amongst other things, feed the birds (Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Nuthatches etc) with peanuts and sunflower seeds as they walk along. The birds have now got used to people and now expect to get fed. On the plus side, as relates to my image, much of the seed falls down under the boardwalk and feeds a reasonably large population of rodents - mice, chipmunks and squirrels. I think you know where this is going ..... The rodent population attract a few raptors of which this Red-tailed Hawk is one. These hawks, like most others, are usually quite shy when it comes to humans but like the small birds they have become quite used to the continual passage of people. Anyways ... the hawk was very focused on the prey below my feet (under and to the side of the boardwalk) and dropped out of one of the trees and dove almost straight at me in line to get his intended target. My lucky day !!

Time

It was mid morning on a weekend in either late fall or very early spring (my memory not as good as it was)

Lighting

Lighting was not intense, but certainly quite bright.

Equipment

I used for this shot a Canon full frame camera (5D mark 2) with a Canon 500mm f4 lens. Camera/lens combination was mounted on a Monopod giving reasonable stability but allowing flexibility of movement.

Inspiration

As an avid hobby photographer, with birds and wildlife very much a primary focus it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Of course, if you want to shoot wildlife you have to spend the time in the field.

Editing

Yes ... a little bit of clean up around the perimeter to remove the edge of some distracting branches, using Lightroom. Also some minor exposure and contrast adjustment.

In my camera bag

I don't carry much over and above my camera, lens and Monopod. However always a good idea to have a spare battery and a few odds and ends in the car ... just in case.

Feedback

Photographing great wildlife images is 95% luck and 100% being in the right place at the right time. However, my first rule about wildlife photography is ... "go where the birds (or animals) are" and secondly, if you can get them to come to you then so much the better. This can be done by feeding or by simple observation and of course a ton of patience. My wildlife blog: http://grenfell.weebly.com and my website www.tekfx.ca

See more amazing photos, follow Grenfell

Grenfell

Grenfell

Red Tailed Hawk

Captured this Red-tailed Hawk as he was actively hunting Field Mice along a public Boardwalk in Burlington, Ontario

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow Grenfell

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