Hawk Conservancy: First Time

schpleep

schpleep

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Lee
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I went along to one of the photography days at The Hawk Conservancy Trust last week. To be honest I didn't know what to expect as it's not the sort of thing I normally shoot. (I'm more likely to be hanging around the TP sports forum than in here) But it's definitely good to go mix things up now and again, as I found out as we got started on Thursday!

To cover all bases though I did the usual, and took all the stuff I could carry (not the best idea when you're walking around the whole day). I still wasn't prepared for how bloody fast those things can move though! That peregrine in particular is amazing as is the silent grace of the owls. A return trip just for the 2pm flying display is definitely in order.

I'm still crunching through ~1100 images and digging out the best ones. All in all though a recommended day out as the staff were great and the birds themselves are stunning. In the meantime here's a few that've made it through so far. (The full set is gradually growing over on Flickr)

1. Tawny Owl


2. Young Bateleur Eagle


3.Peregrine


4. Peregrine


5. Barn Owl
 
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1100 shots, wow you did some serious clicking there, some great shot here though ;)
 
Exactly 1122 (raw) pics according to Lightroom! I binned about half of them on a first pass as my panning/tracking of birds in flight at 300mm clearly needs some work! I've since ruthlessly graded the rest and am now working through my 4+ star images of each bird. I will still probably be posting birds to Flickr for the rest of the week!
 
I love the Barn Owl and the Harris Hawk in particular, but all the shots you've posted are excellent. We keep saying we must get to the Hawk Conservancy at some point - the Raptor foundation in Cambridgeshire is also a superb day out.
 
All great....................particularly the Barn Owl(y)
 
Nice set but the Harris Hawk is an immature bateleur
( the head ruff is a dead give away )
 
Thanks Chris/Cobra. I was relying on memory for the names and that "Harris Hawk" was niggling as a potential wrong'un.

Naming now updated.

And, just to be sure this is a Harris Hawk isn't it?

 

No worries (y)
Yep thats a Harris
the "dead give away" for these is the "brown" wings,
The Americans usually call them
"bay winged hawks"
 
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