Red-shouldered Hawks

A Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk learning to hunt

By Mia McPherson, on April 7th, 2013%

Portrait of a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk – Nikon D70, handheld. f5.6, 1/200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, flash fired, not baited

In July of 2007 I was fortunate to follow and photograph a family of Red-shouldered Hawks at Sawgrass County Park in Florida for a few weeks when the fledglings were learning to hunt for themselves. Because Sawgrass County Park has a high number of visitors each day the hawks were used to people and didn’t flush easily.

This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a metal fencepost so I opted to go for a portrait to remove the “hand of man”. My EXIF information doesn’t list the ISO used for this shot but I do know that the auto flash fired. I was still using my Nikon D70 when all of these images were created.

Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile – Nikon D70, handheld, f5.6, 1/320, ISO 640, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, flash fired, not baited

The day after the portrait above was taken I was back at Sawgrass County Park hoping for decent light and to find the young hawks again, I found the Red-shouldered juveniles but the light wasn’t great because of thunder storms rolling through the area. I had been photographing this immature Red-Shouldered Hawk as it perched in a pine tree when it flew directly at me and as it flew over my head I could feel the whoosh of air from its wings. I thought the young hawk was going to carry off the straw hat I was wearing but as I turned I could see it had landed on the ground about 20 feet from me and was dispatching what appeared to be a Palmetto Bug.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk trying to catch a Yellow Rat Snake – Nikon D70, handheld, f4.8, 1/400, ISO 1000, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 80mm, flash fired, not baited

Not long after the juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk ate the Palmetto Bug I could hear another Red-tailed Hawk calling and the hawk I was photographing flew towards the sound. I slowly followed the sound and used the trunks of trees as a blind as I walked. I came up on two young Red-shouldered Hawks, one on the fence and the other was perched higher in a tree above the hawk you see in this frame. The hawks were very interested in trying to catch this Yellow Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta) that had woven its body through the links of the fence. I took a few images and left because I didn’t want to disrupt the hawks.

The next time I went to the park I measured one of the square links in the fence and according to my calculations this snake was over 6 foot in length. Sorry about the poor quality of the last image, it was dark under the trees and there was a light rain falling but I did want to capture the interactions I was observing.

I enjoyed following this family of Red-shouldered Hawks that summer.

Mia

Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile – Small in the Frame

By Mia McPherson, on January 25th, 2013%

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk – Small in frame – Sawgrass County Park

Five days ago I posted a Bald Eagle image where the eagle was small in the frame and explained that I felt that the setting was as important as the subject, I also feel that way about this image of a Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile perched in a tree. I photographed this young Red-shouldered Hawk at Sawgrass County Park in Pinellas County, Florida a few years ago as the early morning light lit up the grasses and Bamboo in the background.

The subject doesn’t always need to fill the frame to have impact and appeal, sometimes the background or habitat has as much appeal as the subject.

Mia

Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile

By Mia McPherson, on August 8th, 2011%

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Sawgrass County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D70, handheld, f5.6, 1/200, ISO unknown, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light, not baited, not a set up

Last week on a rainy day I reworked some older images from 2007 from when I was still photographing with my D70. This image is even older than the others I posted last week. I was only shooting in jpeg then and didn’t know how much better it was to use RAW. I’ve learned a lot since then!

This very cooperative juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was used to the people who frequented Sawgrass County Park and it would land very close to humans. It landed on a roof of a pavillion very close to where I was standing so I took the opportunity to get some close up shots.

Now, knowing how much more I can do in RAW file in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) I could kick myself for not having switched to RAW sooner because I could have more easily salvaged some of the shots I took where my exposure wasn’t just quite right.

It’s a beautiful raptor I think. I’m glad it landed so close to me.

I’ll discuss RAW files more at a later date.

Mia