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Mating Red Shoulders
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Mating Red Shoulders

by Paul Powers

Gallery: AvianPosted February 16, 2011100 views4 comments
While walking the E. L. Huie reservoir just south of Atlanta, I noticed two Red Shoulder Hawks in a tree. The female was eating a breakfast of frog when I started to photograph her. As I was photographing the male flew up behind her and started to mate. The time of day was approximately 9:00 AM - The weather was sunny - The temp was in the low 40's.

Canon 7D
Len EF 100-400 mm set at 400 mm
F 8.0
1/500 sec
ISO 320
Dim 5184 x 3456 - Cropped 2187 x 2187

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 16, 2011 at 10:33 PM
Ah, MEN! Interupting breakfast! :rolleyes:
Great timing to get this shot.
The angle isn't ideal (why didn't you quickly climb a nearby tree? :biggrin: ) but it's still a great catch.
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 16, 2011 at 10:41 PM
Nice catch, Paul. A bit more dof might have helped sharpen the male, but then you'd be getting significant motion blur if you didn't crank up the iso. Hardly a situation where I'd be immediately fiddling with the dials :biggrin: Great action and getting the eyes of both is a nice bonus. :toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by David Haynes on February 17, 2011 at 1:05 AM
Paul,
Nice capture here. Good detail in both birds. Good techs Paul. Would like to see a larger version next time. Thanks for sharing this Paul.
Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 17, 2011 at 5:32 PM
Good capture and great use of the opportunity. If you are a lister, there's a special list for this kind of behavior...
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments