Raptors of Bosque Del Apache NWR

As you may remember, Ann, Jodie Wolslager, and I made a trip to New Mexico to visit the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  As I usually do on a trip like that, I shot around 500 images.  Yesterday morning, I was browsing through them and tossing some of the bad ones.  (And you thought that I didn’t take any bad pictures.  Boy, would you be surprised.) 🙂

Anyway, I needed to thin them out, and I came across several pretty good ones that I had forgotten about.  I love to photograph raptors and these are three of my best shots.  I saw several more while we were there, but either the birds were hidden or the light was bad.  In any case, there were many hawks that were “un-photographed”.  I hope to return there again later this year, to remedy that situation.  It is such an amazing place.  In the meantime, enjoy these photos, and of course, click on any of them to see an enlargement.

Red-tailed Hawk

• Canon 7D
• Canon100-400mm zoom lens
• 1/250 sec. @ f5.6 – minus 1/3 EV
• ISO 100
• Lens focal distance – 400
• Shutter priority
• Partial metering

Bald Eagle

• Canon 7D
• Canon 500mm IS lens w/1.4 tele-converter
• Bogen-Manfrotto tripod w/Wimberley II gimbal head
• 1/1000 sec. @ f5.6 minus 1/3 EV
• ISO 100
• Lens focal distance – 700mm
• Shutter priority
• Partial metering

Sharp-shinned Hawk

• Canon 7D
• Canon 100-400 zoom lens – hand-held
• 1/1600 sec. @ f5.6 minus 1/3 EV
• ISO 2500
• Lens focal distance – 400mm
• Shutter priority
• Partial metering