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Fresh Kill
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
I captured this image in Yellowstone National Park. Since I'm such a huge fan of birds of prey, I'm always trying to get close to and photograph Red Tailed Hawks - I believe that's what this bird is. If I've misidentified it, please do let me know. I was talking with my father on a pay phone near the cabin that I was staying at, to let him know I was still ok on my solo photo trip (they worry still, even though I'm a grown man. Haha!), when all of a sudden a big hawk with a meal hanging from its talons flew directly overhead and landed on the telephone pole directly above me. I freaked out and dropped the phone on my dad, ran to my car to get my gear, set off the car alarm like a total spaz, returned with my camera and snapped off a few shots. I don't know how I didn't spook that bird with all that running around and with the car alarm going off and all. Normally I can't get anywhere near hawks. They usually spot me a mile away and take off. On this particular day I was lucky.
This image reminds me of just how awesome predators are: the hawk standing guard over it's victim and next meal. Perhaps the hawk was on it's way back to its nest to share the meal with its young, and stopped to take a quick breather after flying for a while with a corpse hanging from its talons. Maybe it wanted to proudly display to me what it had just caught. Who knows? Look at that poor little rodent. Awww!!! So cute... and so dead!
BTW, my father had no clue why I panicked and dropped the phone. When I returned to the phone about 5 minutes later and explained why I had run off suddenly, he didn't seem to appreciate the urgency. Doh!
The lens that I used for this shot was my Canon 300mm IS f/4 with a 1.4x Teleconverter, giving me a maximum aperture of f/5.6 to work with, at 420mm. |
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Hi Stephen,
This is impressive. The rat is small but adds up to the awe of the hawk.
regards,
Subhayan.
Amazing!!! Such a great shot and story!!!
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