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Archive 2020 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

AGeoJO
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

This female American kestrel just landed on a perch. There are 4-5 perches in her territory that she uses frequently either on the lookout for prey or when enjoying a meal she just caught. This particular perch is the best photographically as the background is made up of semi-dry reeds of a marsh and far away from the perch. And the timing was basically perfect as the sun was low, low enough to cast orangey colors. She stayed on the perch for several minutes, she looked around and she cleaned both of her claws then, all the sudden she took off.

I used two different setups; the first 3 images were taken with a higher MP camera and a long lens plus a 2X TC. I anticipated that she would fly away from the perch and I felt the need to change my gear to get a slightly wider coverage and a faster tracking and camera to keep up with the speed of the kestrel for the last 6 images. The sun was even lower by the time the kestrel took off and there was less than 10 minutes between the two batches. am glad I did it as even using a wider coverage I ended up clipping one of the wings a little. Oh, well.

Thank you very much for stopping by and please feel free to leave any feedback,
Joshua


	© AGeoJO 2020

#1 - Female American Kestrel just landed


	© AGeoJO 2020

#2 - Tucking in the wings


	© AGeoJO 2020

#3 - Moved to a lower part and just chilling


	© AGeoJO 2020

#4 - Cleaning the claw


	© AGeoJO 2020

#5 - Using the legs to lift up for take off


	© AGeoJO 2020

#6 - Taking off


	© AGeoJO 2020

#7 - Up and away


	© AGeoJO 2020

#8 - Getting ready for another wing beat/spread


	© AGeoJO 2020

#9 - See you next time!

Dec 12, 2020 at 10:29 PM

Fred Amico
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Very nice, Joshua. Hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to go with #7.

Dec 13, 2020 at 12:17 AM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Fred Amico wrote:
Very nice, Joshua. Hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to go with #7.

Thank you very much, Fred!

Dec 13, 2020 at 12:21 AM

roadapple
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Very Nice set, Joshua. The lighting and color blend of the birds hunting background complement each other.

Dec 13, 2020 at 12:33 AM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

roadapple wrote:
Very Nice set, Joshua. The lighting and color blend of the birds hunting background complement each other.

Thank you very much, Tom!

Dec 13, 2020 at 12:37 AM

dallvr
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Terrific set, Joshua! Thanks for explaining your two camera/lens setup for these photos. All great photos, of which #s 7 and 5 are my favorites.

Dec 13, 2020 at 01:44 AM

vphan
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Awesome set Joshua! TFS

Vince

Dec 13, 2020 at 02:35 AM

psharvic
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Fine work on these Joshua.

Dec 13, 2020 at 07:10 AM

torobouk
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Gorgeous as usual Joshua, light and attitudes are perfects.

Dec 13, 2020 at 07:23 AM

morris
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

A delight to view Joshua.

Morris

Dec 13, 2020 at 08:01 AM

kdacharya
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Beautifully done Joshua. Light is amazing. Voted

Dec 13, 2020 at 08:31 AM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

dallvr wrote:
Terrific set, Joshua! Thanks for explaining your two camera/lens setup for these photos. All great photos, of which #s 7 and 5 are my favorites.

Thank you very much, Shirley! Yes, that’s my “greedy” setup there

. You can tell the difference fairly easily in the resulting bokeh.

vphan wrote:
Awesome set Joshua! TFS

Vince

Thank you very much, Vince! I captured images of her catching/eating insect. I am waiting for the day when she catches a mouse, like in your images...

psharvic wrote:
Fine work on these Joshua.

Thank you very much, Vic!

Dec 13, 2020 at 10:57 AM

photonoclast
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

This is a wonderful set! Almost color monochrome. To me, #6 and #9 would be interesting candidates for a black & white conversion.

Dec 13, 2020 at 11:05 AM

louie champan
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Top notch set of images Joshua, love those creamy backgrounds.

Dec 13, 2020 at 12:07 PM

lighthound
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Wow! These are super nice Joshua! Love that golden light. Kudos for thinking ahead and getting ready with the wider gear.
Dave

Dec 13, 2020 at 04:08 PM

quytran1970
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Amazing

Dec 13, 2020 at 04:12 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

torobouk wrote:
Gorgeous as usual Joshua, light and attitudes are perfects.

I appreciate you stopping by and thank you for your kind words, Gerard!

morris wrote:
A delight to view Joshua.

Morris

Morris, thank you very much!

kdacharya wrote:
Beautifully done Joshua. Light is amazing. Voted

Thank you for your kind words and I appreciate your vote, KD!

Dec 13, 2020 at 04:24 PM

Dave_E
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Beautiful Joshua. That wonderful light on a beautiful bird. These are really great.

Dave

Dec 13, 2020 at 05:47 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

photonoclast wrote:
This is a wonderful set! Almost color monochrome. To me, #6 and #9 would be interesting candidates for a black & white conversion.

Thank you very much, photonoclast! I will give your idea a try.

louie champan wrote:
Top notch set of images Joshua, love those creamy backgrounds.

Thank you very much, Louie! That perch is the best for us photographers. I noticed that the female kestrel would bring its prey to the closest perch to be consumed where it was caught, at least most of the time.

lighthound wrote:
Wow! These are super nice Joshua! Love that golden light. Kudos for thinking ahead and getting ready with the wider gear.
Dave

Thank you very much, Dave! To be honest, the main reason for me to switch gear had to do more with my confidence level of being able to handle 1,200mm and to track a fast flying kestrel but I appreciate your giving me that credit though

. Plus, the camera I used for tracking has a better AF performance.

________________________________________________

Here are two more images of the female kestrel at two other perches. The first one is actually lower in height than the perch in the first 9 images but to be able to get fairly close to that I have to go down the slope, resulting in an upward aim of the lens. The second image shows her main perch on the top of the tree higher on the bluff. She spends a considerable time up there on the look out for insect/mouse movement on the ground. It is obvious why I prefer the first perch.


	© AGeoJO 2020

#10 - Female American Kestrel enjoying her meal


	© AGeoJO 2020

#11 - At her main perch, high up on the tree

Edited on Dec 14, 2020 at 08:14 PM · View previous versions

Dec 13, 2020 at 07:05 PM

surgemaster
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · When the sun was low at the end of the day

Beauties, Joshua. The Bokeh still isn't bad in the shorter focal length. I see why you prefer the 1st perch. Good planning.
Rex

Dec 13, 2020 at 07:33 PM

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