Getting a photo of a Prairie Falcon and Duck Photography

Went out to Pitt Meadows to see the Prairie Falcon and Gyrfalcon in the area because they are two birds I admire. I have a decent shot of a juvenile Gyrfalcon but wanted one of the adult. There is an adult Gyrfalcon in Pitt Meadows. Yesterday, sadly I could not get a photo of her. The people who saw her earlier that day said she was scope views only, so I'll have to try her again. This feisty Prairie Falcon shares the same hunting range with the Gyrfalcon. She has defeated the odds and stands her ground which I didn't think would happen when the Gyr came to town last year. I thought for sure the Prairie Falcon would be pushed out by the more powerful Gyrfalcon but this wasn't the case.

Even though I didn't get my Gyrfalcon photo, I did accomplish one of my goals; which was to photograph a Prairie Falcon. I have seen many in my life in the Canadian Prairies and in BC, WA, OR and AZ but my photos have always been blurry or distant record shots.

Yesterday, the Prairie Falcon was perched on an open limb on Sharpe Rd facing old Dewdney Trunk Rd in Pitt Meadows. My friends Mike Tabak and John Gordon had spotted her. I also bumped into another friend Dave Schutz, who pulled up in his car and looked at the adult Prairie Falcon at the same time. The Prairie looked like it would fly, so I had no time to put on my teleconverter. She hopped from one branch to an another, did a wing flap and stretch and flew as fast as lightning to the ground. She landed, perhaps caught something and quickly picked up off the ground, veered left and was not seen again that day. The rocket speed and power these falcons exhibit is incredible. I love watching these powerful and fast Raptors in flight.

Adult Prairie Falcon in Pitt Meadows - Photo: Melissa Hafting

What a cool moment and one many I hope will have the chance to experience. She will be here all winter,  it's the third winter she's returned to the area. Truly a beautiful falcon and all the more special since they are native to our North American continent.

I also stopped in at Burnaby Lake to try and perfect my duk photography. I went to shoot Wood Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Green-winged Teal and Widgeon and maybe even some Long-billed Dowitchers. However, none of those photos were quite right until a Northern Pintail Drake came swimming by me in perfect light on golden water. "Click" I had that shot I've always wanted. They are very skittish ducks and I've never gotten that desired shot, until yesterday. Duck photography is hard. It may look easy because "It's a duck". They don't flit around in branches they just sit there right? Well no, you are wrong. The water is usually too choppy for a nice photo it's very hard to get a nice low angle because you are lying on either rocks, metal, goose dung or are half submerged in water and frozen solid (and half hypothermic). Today was no different, I lay down on ice and snow and used my waterproof snow gloves as knee pads, it worked for awhile but became highly uncomfortable. Oh well it was worth it and I'll keep working at my duck photography, because practice makes perfect.

Here are some professional tips on Duck Photography:

http://www.audubon.org/news/how-take-best-duck-photos

http://www.audubon.org/news/five-essentials-successful-duck-photography

http://www.audubon.org/news/how-take-sharp-and-vibrant-photographs-ducks-flight

http://www.audubon.org/news/four-quick-tips-photographing-flocks-ducks

Northern Pintail Drake in Burnaby - Photo: Melissa Hafting




Comments

  1. Viktor VandereykDecember 22, 2017 at 5:08 PM

    That Northern Pintail drake photo is stunning!!!!
    Congrats on getting the prairie falcon! I tried once last year and dipped, but I hope to try again this year, same for the gyr.
    Have a happy Christmas and a merry new year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melissa HaftingDecember 22, 2017 at 11:23 PM

      thank you so much my dear!! it only took me my whole life to get that drake pic of a pintail.. you can see im not great at duck photography ;) haha

      i hope you get that prfa soon! he seems to be pretty consistenly at sharpe rd and connecting road or sharpe and old dewdney trunk. trust me i know how you feel i dipped on it a few times last season but went back so keep trying! the gyrf has been far less reliable this year but hopefully you get to see her too! happy christmas and even better new year to you, marnix and family!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Dowitcher Identification

Image
Birders notoriously find it difficult to tell Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers apart. I have got a request to do an identification explanation on them so here goes, I hope it will be helpful. Short-billed Dowitchers and Long-billed look so similar. Using their habitat is helpful but not diagnostic. Short-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer Salt water and brackish water and Long-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer fresh water. However, I have OFTEN seen Short-billeds in freshwater and Long-billeds in brackish and salt water. Therefore, DO NOT rely on habitat. Another feature many people will tell you to rely on is spotting on the side of the flanks of Short-billeds and barring on the side of Long-billeds. Usually this is a mark that you can use but it is not always as distinct as you like. I have seen Short-billeds with a barred appearance to the flanks. It is only at the side of the breast where you have to look for this diagnostic feature for the spots on a Short-billed and t
Read more

Hawk Identification Tips from every angle (Sharpie vs Cooper and Red-tailed Subspecies)

Image
I get several questions about the difference between accipiters. The most common ones are between Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and between Cooper's Hawks vs Northern Goshawks (to a lesser degree). Next, I get many questions dealing with a certain race of buteos the Western Red-tailed Hawk and Harlan's. So I thought I would do a post on these to help answer those questions. I will deal with Cooper's and Sharpies and not Goshawks because they are much more common here and look much more alike. My friend John Reynolds inspired me to write this up. COOPER'S AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS EYE COLOUR - YELLOW OR ORANGE? RED? Normally a juvenile Cooper's hawk has a bright yellow eye and a Juvie Sharpie has a orange eye but some cooper's can have a dull yellow eye that looks a bit orangish. Cooper's Hawks usually only transition to the orange eye colour when they are sub adults, so in good light, it's a very very reliable feature. However you
Read more

STINT IDENTIFICATION

Image
As per request, here are some tips that I hope will be helpful in identifying and differentiating Red-necked Stint from Little Stint. I will also do a brief intro on Long-toed and Temminck's Stint... if you build it they will come right?😉 Red-necked and Little Stints look very much alike in worn breeding plumage. The amount of Red on the face, throat and breast in Red-necked Stint is vary variable). They look even more alike in non-breeding plumage, that is why it is essential to learn structural differences to separate the two. They are similar to Semipalmated Sandpipers as well as Sanderlings. Both species are often confused for Red-necked Stints. Little Stints rarely get confused with Sanderling because they have a hind toe which helps differentiate it from this species. Sanderlings in breeding or worn breeding are usually confused with Red-necked Stints but they are much larger than Red-necked Stints. Let's first start with Bills in this complicated ID proces
Read more

*Updated - The most famous Red-tailed Hawk is eating fish on the ground just like a Bald Eagle!

Image
Update - There are plans in the works to make a documentary film on this young Red-tailed Hawk who thinks he's an Eagle. You can read the latest news about that on CBC HERE . Watch this incredible footage of the little Red-tailed Hawk who grew up in a family of three Eaglets and 2 Bald Eagle Parents. He is imprinted now on Bald Eagles. He looks and acts just like one, as you can see here in the video below. He is standing over a large salmon carcass, just like a Bald Eagle would and he's eating the decaying flesh. Red-tailed Hawks like to eat voles and rabbits etc. not fish! Imprinting is usually irreversible according to raptor expert David Bird. However, I hope it's reversible so that he doesn't attempt to mate with a Bald Eagle, as the Eagle would kill him because it would view him as a Hawk. Eagle expert David Hancock said that the bird will likely starve and get killed by an eagle. He said this possibly can be prevented if someone grabs it and takes it to O
Read more

*UPDATED* The First Ever Black Birders Week May 31-June 5th

Image
By now you have probably heard about the racist Canadian-born White woman who did a racist attack on a Black birder named Christian Cooper in Central Park in NYC. All he asked was for her to leash her dog in a on-leash dog area. If you haven't heard of this story you can watch the video and read about it HERE . It's a vile video of a vile person who knew her White privilege and used it as a weapon against this man.  We all know that in America many Black people especially Black men are killed by police for no reason at all but the colour of their skin. A good example is George Floyd who was killed by a police officer (while 3 other cops looked on) for what they said was a possible 20$ forged bill. The White police officer put a knee on his neck on camera for over 8 mins until he died, despite having the victim completely restrained, begging for mercy and not being able to breathe. Only one police officer was charged and not for 1st degree murder but third and manslaught
Read more