Harlan's Intergrade Reconnaissance

Yesterday I ventured south of Madison to the Stoughton area on a reconnaissance mission to find and photograph the uniquely plumaged Dane County Harlan's (intergrade) Hawk. Harlan's is subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk that is rather rare for Wisconsin. There has been much debate about the ID of this bird.

It is believed this is the same bird identified as a juvenile Harlan's last winter at the same location which presented as a classic Harlan's juvenile. With its return to the exact location this winter showing traits of a second year bird, the ID of this bird has become complicated. I am not well versed in the subspecies and molt limits of Red-tailed Hawk. However, from what I gather this plumage is a bit atypical but within the morphological plausibility of being the Harlan's subspecies or at a minimum possessing Harlan's genes. Apparently they can show red in the tail though not usually to the degree seen in this bird. Per Brian Sullivan of eBird this bird is being placed in the Harlan's subspecies for eBird purposes so that the records are not lost in the sea of generic Red-tailed Hawks.

My second try at finding this bird was the charm. I arrived at ground zero of the "Harlan's" winter territory immediately finding it landing on a perch near the road.

I had mentally and physically planned my approach to shooting this bird should I be so lucky to find it in a reasonably close location. Lord knows photographing perched and in-flight raptors has been a trial and error process for me, filled mostly with errors.

The Dos and Don'ts I've ascertained over the course of many epic fails are as follows.

• DON'T  pull right under the bird on the same side of the road. 
• Definitely DON'T pull along side the bird and try to shoot it out the passenger window when you are the driver. The angle is tricky and the heat waves from the interior of the vehicle with fuck your focus. 
• DO use your car as a blind. 
• DO shoot out the side of the car you are seated on. If you need to drive past the bird and U-turn back this is preferable to trying to manage some awkward shot across the seat of your car. 
• DO keep the heat low or off with the windows cracked open so you don't get turbulence and fucked focusing. 
• DO have your camera settings prepared in advanced. I prefer a manual shutter and aperture with an auto iso. I lean toward faster shutter speeds and make additional adjustments once I knock off some initial shots if it appears I have a cooperative subject. 
• DO read your camera manual to understand which is the optimal image stabilization setting for birds in flight (something I have NEVER done).
• DON'T listen to me because I am still falling short of mastering shots of birds in flight.

Though not a complete fail, I once again struggled with how use my car as a blind while having enough freedom of movement to stay on the bird when it took flight. And then there's knowing your camera and knowing which stability setting to use. I botched that this time around.

Maybe it's time I break out the manual.

I did encounter this beauty a few more times as I circled its territory. But the money shot that I fell short on arrived in those first initial minutes of finding the bird. Despite missing the perfection mark with my photos I was wowed regardless. He's a stunner for sure!