Friday, January 14, 2011

Northern Goshawk

The best thing happened to me in the New Year's Eve was probably getting photos of this magnificent female Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) at Oita River. I was so tired and exhausted after a 10km-walk from Kaku to Oita. As I was crossing the bridge from Hirosemachi to Tsumori, a big white object flashed up before my eyes from the dense tree down below. I took out my binocular and gave a good look at it, and bingo, a Northern Goshawk, a species of which I've always been yearning for. I was so excited but tried to be as calm as I could. I slowly snapped a few shots before moving around to find the perfect angle for the bird.

Female Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)

I moved very slowly, afraid that the bird would fly away too soon before I could get any good shot. It actually turned out that the bird hardly cared about my existence at all. Even though it was sitting on a tree in a relatively close range for raptors, it didn't move or act like it was about to take off at all. I guess it was because of the flock of Brown-eared Bulbuls, which was mobbing the goshawk with their noisy screeching sounds, that distracted the goshawk's attention away from me. Though it was getting darker and I had to shoot at the speed of only 1/50 sec, I was so happy and really felt thankful for the bird to stay long enough for me to get all these shots. It did finally fly out though, as the bulbuls were too annoying.

8 comments:

Stuart Price said...

Nice find! And you managed to get some very nice shots too.........

Chris said...

Nice catch and fantastic shots once again. I'm really enjoying going through your blog and your Pbase gallery.... Just wonderful!

Mark Young said...

Lovely images for such a slow SS and being handheld too!
I don't know about your, but being excited and staying calm aren't 2 things I tend to do well together! ;) Congrats on the find.

Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok said...

Thanks a lot everyone!
Stu> Never thought this would happen actually. Everytime I see them, they always disappear into the thick trees.

Chris> I enjoyed watching your gallery as well. There are so many images I've never seen in your blog before.

Mark> It's really difficult to do that, but with that low speed, I just needed to be as still as I could. Good thing was I was shooting from the bridge, so I could lay my camera down on the railing.

Dingtech said...

ยินดีด้วยอย่างยิ่งครับสำหรับภาพเหยี่ยวที่งดงามสมบูรณ์แบบชุดนี้
เป็นของขวัญปีใหม่ชิ้นเยี่ยมสำหรับผู้ติดตามชมเลยครับ
ดูแล้วเต็มอิ่ม สวยทุกอิริยาบท...แม้กระทั่งท่าโก่งก้นอึ 555+
แถมมีมูลไหลย้อยให้เห็นอีก
ขอบคุณที่นำภาพสวยๆสดๆมาแบ่งปัน เจ้าท้องขาวตัวนี้หาดูยากจริงๆ
ชอบมากกกกกกกจริงๆครับคุณต้น :D

Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok said...

โอ้โห คุณ Dingtech ตาดีมากๆเลยครับ เห็นอึไหลย้อยด้วย เหยี่ยวพวกนี้อึทีออกมาเยอะมาก ปลิวสไวเป็นทางเลยล่ะครับ ฮะๆๆ

Phil Slade said...

Fantastic images and hand held at such a slow shutter! I think I would have been shaking too much at seeing a Goshawk so well. Great work.

Dominic Gendron said...

Great encounter and awseome images ;)