Little Hunter

Thought I'd share this fierce little hunter that Jenaya, Marlise, Josiah and I found in the mountains on the return from our owl and waterfowl trip to British Columbia this spring. We actually found a pair, and at one point while photographing the female the male appeared from out of nowhere and they mated...not sure how many times I can anticipate being completely set up with carefully chosen angles, comp, lighting and focus and techs and have that transpire in front of our lenses, but we didn't complain! I'm sure you'll see a couple frames from that sequence in the future.

Although I do have plenty of images with more eye contact, I loved the intensity shown here as the male locked onto what might have been a meal in the underbrush below him, and I thanked him many times for choosing this lovely cedar sapling as one of several perches he hunted from. 

This is nearly full-frame with one cedar sprig removed from the top right. 

Your time, comments, suggestions and critiques are much appreciated! Please view the larger version for best quality.


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Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4D IF-ED with Nikon TC-14EII teleconverter (700mm)
ISO 800
1/250sec @ f/9
-1.7 stop exposure from meter
Mounted on FEISOL CT-3372 Elite tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead and Wimberley Sidekick
Cropped to approximately 90% of original