18 June 2009

Catch!

Saker falcons, Falco cherrug, breed from eastern Europe eastward; they're quite large, not quite gyrfalcon sized. They're also fairly common, and I don't know why particularly the zoo has one. But they do, and it's in the bird demo. (Which is a good thing; flying exercise isn't easy to provide, but if they can, of course they should.)

Up above the world so high... (that's the 100% crop from 300mm of lens. Way up there.)
And there goes the whistle!
Head stays level; everything else, optional.
The second whistle, blown after multiple passes, means "catch!"
Being jessed (I think actually "de-radio-trackered", since both jesses show), and still panting a bit.
Just before being taken back to regular quarters.
I quite like the weathered-metal look of the beak.

Have to get better at tracking the thing in flight; get a faster long telephoto (hah!); and remember to make sure the shutter speed never drops below about 1/500. (There were a couple other shots where the 1/300 I though would be fast enough for a bird wasn't, and the blur ruins the shot.)

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