Photographing Birds Of Prey

This article was written by Paul Randall of our forums.

Full topic available here: http://www.birdingoz.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=950

Hi all, certainly not an expert in this field but thought I would write a bit about the techniques that I find successful.

To me there is nothing more aesthetically pleasing than a beautiful raptor sitting atop a cool perch (natural or otherwise), or banking,wheeling, fighting, hunting or anything else they do for that matter!!

Forgive me if I get a bit basic for some of you but thought I would write this for beginners and up and also my experience is limited to south eastern Australia so please keep that in mind.

FINDING BIRDS OF PREY

Where to look for birds of prey? Well, odds are you can just take a walk around your local park or garden and you would have a good chance of seeing something. Hobbies don’t mind suburban areas, Sparrowhawks may take up residence anywhere there is sufficient strands of dense trees and birds like Kestrels can be seen almost anywhere that may harbour mice or large insects.

Some birds of prey are pretty easy to find as they will sit conspicuously on fence posts and roadside signs but many are very hard to find when sitting still. The most important tool I use for spotting birds of prey is my ears. The alarm calls of other birds is the first thing you should be familiarising yourself with. Countless times I have used the alarm calls of alert honeyeaters to locate and photograph some raptor tearing through an avenue of gums fast as a bullet.

Honeyeaters are great for raptors on the move but there are other species that will alert you to the presence of birds of prey at rest or hiding. Learn to listen for the aggravated chatter of Willie Wagtails and the alarm call of Blackbirds as well as the defensive calls of much smaller birds like Thornbills and the like. Your eyes are of course valuable tools too, so learn to recognise the silhouettes of different species of raptors as well as those birds that may be confused with raptors at a distance eg. magpies, ravens etc.

Breeding times are a great opportunity to see more birds of prey as contact calls between male, female and fledglings will help to alert you to there presence as well as giving you the chance to watch there preferred flight path for coming to a nest or selected perch for food transferral, mating etc.

APPROACHING BIRDS OF PREY

Slow and low is the best way to approach most raptors perched on fence posts etc. Try to keep something behind you to break up your outline or something in front of you if possible. Walking the line of a fence helps as does zig zagging slowly towards the bird with your eyes to the ground to give the impression that you yourself are scanning for something in the grass or dirt and are not at all interested in what the bird is doing.

I have found that making any noise on approach (ie imitating raptor calls etc) will just cause the bird to take flight but soft squeaking noises will get the birds attention when you need it (for head turn or eye contact).

Take your time, these birds have great patience and so should you. Most raptors will accept you into their space if you do so slowly so make sure you watch for any signs that the bird is unhappy with your presence (tail flicking, wing twitching, head bobbing/tilting).

This is the bird letting you know that it is about to take off so if the wind is coming from your direction (birds will mostly take off into the wind) get ready to shoot because this is going to be the only shot you are going to get unless you hold your ground or back off.

Cars can also make good rolling hides but you must also take your time with this method too as they do of course associate cars with people.

Don’t be too discouraged if you can’t get too close to start with. These are extremely clever birds with extreme senses so being out smarted by them

is not too embarrassing!!

ATTRACTING BIRDS OF PREY

I probably should’nt comment on this as I have never used these tactics, but they are things I have thought about.

I imagine road killed rabbits could be used to great success with species like Swamp harriers. I have thought about collecting one a day (there are plenty around my area) and leaving them in the same place each day to attract these birds but I cant really bring myself to go out looking for poor dead rabbits while I could be spending my time taking photos of living things.

Another tactic I have thought about is using either road killed birds or perhaps just a pile of feathers to entice Goshawks and Sparrowhawks down from their faraway perches, but I suspect that these are just things that I think up while lying in bed after a hard day of missing every normal and natural bird of prey opportunity that was thrown my way.

FLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Flight photography is a whole different discipline to all other bird photography. You need to be ready and alert all the time, you need to be quick to react and you need to have steady hands and smooth panning skills whether you’re shooting handheld or not.

These can all be attained with practice but nothing can match the skill of knowing your quarry. Birds of prey are creatures of habit and will often use the same flight path or perch so be watching out for this behavior. When you are shooting a bird of prey in flight try to take note of where the exposed branches and other perches are in the immediate area and be aware of when the bird may be getting close to these perches as photos of a bird of prey braking and about to land are some of the most spectacular you can get.

The best conditions are when the sun is low and coming from the same direction as the wind as this will see the bird landing, wheeling, hovering and even diving, fully lit and into the breeze.

SETTINGS AND EQUIPMENT

I pretty much use a 400mm f5.6 exclusively but I do feel that this is the perfect lens for bird of prey flight photography. The birds are big enough in frame to be easily tracked and the length and weight is just enough to be held steadily as well as being light enough to take anywhere.

I use the centre focus point on servo mode (sometimes employing the extra sensors custom function on my 5D) , but off centre AF points can be used to create pleasing images also but with less accuracy.

I use aperture priority with my lens wide open at f5.6 most of the time but if there is enough light by all means try using smaller apertures. The larger depth of field may help to capture legs and wings in sharper focus.

Metering mode will depend on the available light and perhaps the colour of the bird (midtone, white, dark etc) and the ISO will be determined by these same factors also.

Another thing I have learned is too shoot 1/3 to 2/3 (exp. comp) faster than the metered speed just to ensure that I can get a fast shutter speed.

If it is too dark it is normally not by much and can be fixed in post production.

IN SUMMARY

I am sure there are heaps of things that I have not gotten to so please add any comments that you think are worth mentioning.

But as an overview – Keep low, go slow, be patient and get to know your quarry and most of all have fun!!!

Cheers Paul Randall