I've never been able to get as close as I would like with harriers and kestrels. Despite the fact that they fly around looking down so much, I can never sneak up on them. As soon as I get to where they were, they fly away to where I was.

The first two images are like what I normally get. I scared off that harrier one too many times and it never came back. A second one arrived and nearly flew into me (images 3 & 4). Staying stationary works too if it doesn't know you're there already.

Again, sorry for the background - I will eventually get one close against the one or two clear backgrounds at my "hawk fields".


All shot with the 40D and the 300mm + 2x TC.

I really like the last one. Cropped tighter to eliminate the white in the lower right, would give it an OK background.

That last shot is beautiful although the background does take away from it.

that last one is very nice!