2021 - Image of the Week #6

[Joel Eade]

Northern Harrier headed west


Canon R5
RF 100-500 @ 500mm
f/7.1
1/1250 sec
iso 12,800

Last week I took a 3 hour drive to a location where several Short Earred Owls are wintering. I was anxious to try the R5 for flight images. I arrived around 2PM and waited .... the owls became active just before sunset and I only managed one decent image with an owl fairly small in the frame. Additionally there were several Northern Harriers hunting this area and although they never got close enough in good light for a really detailed image I did like this one with sharp focus on the bird and the landscape out of focus.. I was set up for flight shots using Tv mode and Auto ISO .... this explains the unusual EXIF data. The R5 did track birds pretty well even with low light and birds small in the frame and not bad IQ for iso 12,800