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| Immature Red Shouldered Hawk Click here for a larger view |
On a bright winters day I took a long trek to the local wildlife park. Ok, it was a zoo. But until I make it on safari I will have to work my skills on captive animals. Besides, the animals there are very pretty as well. Anyway, I was at the wildlife park and had already been to the far east and photographed a giant panda. I started walking down a hill towards the big cats while lugging my tripod with my long lens on it. This setup weighs a ton so my first instinct is to simply pack the camera and lens back into my pack. I decided to just carry it this trip.
This would turn out to be very very fortunate. I was passing a frog pond (with no frogs, at least on the surface, perhaps they were down below buried in the mud) when a form caught my eye in the tree. I swung around and saw a bird in the tree, a big bird. First I thought it was a plastic joke, but not taking any chances I threw open my tripod and took aim. After a frame or two I realized I was dealing with a live bird.
Here I was in a downtown urban area and I find myself 12 feet from a wild unbanded hawk. This is the closest I have been to a hawk breaking the record of about 20 feet at Conowingo, Maryland. Turns out this is an Immature Red Shouldered Hawk, a species I have never seen in person. Now I was so close that if I zoomed in to 500mm I got the view you see above, half a hawk (not that I was complaining, it was a great portrait opportunity!). I kept shooting and recomposing for about 25 frames. Then the hawk decided not only were there no frogs or koi in this pond, but that I was quite an annoying person (see the glare he gave me below...). The whole encounter lasted maybe a minute. Had I not had my camera at the ready I would have gotten nothing but a very disappointing story.
The moral of the tale? Always carry a camera and know how to use it. And set it for action before you head out. If my camera were in my pack, or set up for taking portraits of my dog the night before I would have gotten nothing. If I didn't know ever nook and cranny of both my lens and my camera I might have fumbled the shot and gotten nothing. Learn your equipment and keep your head on a swivel and you never know what you may catch!
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| Immature Red Shouldered Hawk Click here for a larger view |
To see more of Benjamin's work visit http://www.dajdesignsphotography.com/
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