{"id":3915,"date":"2011-12-28T10:22:45","date_gmt":"2011-12-28T17:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3915"},"modified":"2025-05-22T08:29:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T13:29:39","slug":"peregrine-falcon-with-prey-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/28\/peregrine-falcon-with-prey-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Peregrine Falcon With Prey ~ Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where is the light when you want it? Yesterday it was hiding behind the clouds and lake fog when I spotted this immature Peregrine Falcon at a close distance, on prey and sticky. The frustrations of being a bird photographer were glaringly apparent to me yesterday morning. Curses!<\/p>\n

\"Immature Immature Peregrine Falcon on top of prey – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/160, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

I was the closest I have ever been to a wild Peregrine Falcon yesterday but I felt my heart sink knowing that the light was not going to be in my favor. There were no visible openings in the clouds. And it there it was on prey too!<\/p>\n

Since moving to Utah and being faced with more low light situations than I ever had in Florida I have had plenty of practice learning the techniques required for when the light just will not cooperate. So I just attempted to do my best with the light that I had.<\/p>\n

I had 27 minutes with this Peregrine Falcon next to the causeway to Antelope Island<\/span><\/a> so I played with many different settings, changed my ISO for faster shutter speeds, adjusted my exposure compensation and my aperture trying to get sharp, interesting images of this young falcon.<\/p>\n

I watched and photographed the falcon tearing into the Northern Shoveler beneath it. There were feathers flying everywhere and unfortunately there just wasn’t enough light to capture that action even at ISO 1600\u00a0 all I got were blurry feathers floating softly towards the ground.<\/p>\n

I also observed the falcon’s crop growing larger and larger as it ate.<\/p>\n

\"Young\u00a0 Young Peregrine Falcon removing duck’s intestines – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

I could barely detect a catch light in the falcon’s eyes because the rays of the cold looking sun barely touched them but despite the low light of the barely visible sun I kept right on shooting and hoping I’d get a few images of this beautiful bird worth saving.<\/p>\n

I did get those images but; oh, what I would have given for the sweet light just after dawn. Perhaps another time.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Peregrine Falcon photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where is the light when you want it? Yesterday it was hiding behind the clouds and lake fog when I spotted this Peregrine Falcon at a close distance, on prey and sticky. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,510,1134,26],"tags":[4021,2663,1139,4286,4285,4078,5634,4279,508,5381,4067,156,1137,1135,4106,153,373,4193],"class_list":["post-3915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-frustrations-in-bird-photography","category-peregrine-falcons","category-utah","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-crop","tag-eating","tag-falco-peregrinus","tag-falcon","tag-falcon-images","tag-falcons","tag-frustrations","tag-hatch-year","tag-immature","tag-low-light-2","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-peregrine-falcon","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/peregrine-falcon-prey-mia-mcpherson-2735.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-119","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32435,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/12\/a-young-peregrine-falcon-and-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":3915,"position":0},"title":"Young Peregrine Falcon and the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Great Salt Lake this time of the year is full of ducks and that means that there is ample food in the area for this young Peregrine Falcon.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Peregrine Falcon rousing, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32022,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/08\/a-peregrine-falcon-on-a-tumbleweed-perch\/","url_meta":{"origin":3915,"position":1},"title":"Peregrine Falcon on a Tumbleweed Perch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to have a minute or two with this immature Peregrine Falcon on a tumbleweed perch in northern Utah. 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