http://tinyurl.com/396c5v
This is a crested caracara (Caracara cheriway). Kinda like an eagle crossed with a vulture. The ranch owner had a 3-person blind set up at the top of a slope with some nice perches (logs, dead trees) and a pond downslope. It was angled perfectly to catch the afternoon sunlight. Unfortunately for 2 of the three days it was totally overcast. I got lucky on the only day we saw a sunset when it was my turn in the "hawk blind." The caracaras where baited in with dead cow parts (heart, kidneys, liver, etc.) and got pretty close. I kinda like this shot because it is a little different view of a raptor. For pixel-peepers: 20D 500mm F4L IS with 1.4x TC mounted on a Manfrotto 055Pro with Studioball and Wimberley sidekick. F8 1/200 ISO 100. A little fill flash. Converted in ACR and edited in PSCS2 with minimal sharpening and corrections for web display. Cropped slightly to a 4x5 format for future printing but pretty much full frame (I'm thinking it'll look nice 16x20). -- Christian http://photography.skofteland.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
