Here's another one of my bird in flight shots:
Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk Flying
© Mike Spinak
1/800th of a second, f/8, ISO 250, 300 mm f/4 IS lens, with 1.4x teleconverter, on a 1Ds Mark 2, handheld.
This picture is another case of analysis and strategy. It had become apparent that the boom-bust population cycles of the local rodents had coincided in such manner as to make a vastly larger than usual rodent population. This, in turn, lead to a large influx of raptors, and I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to photograph them.
Raptors like to minimize their energy expenditure by flapping their wings as little as possible, while soaring, surveying the ground for rodents to prey upon. Stiff, constant breezes make this possible. I sought out a prime area, for both stiff, constant updrafts, and large rodent populations, to get hawk pictures. I went to the aptly named Windy Hill, and looked for a spot where two small hills along the ridgeline met, with a notch between them. Sure enough, there was a constant, stiff updraft coming through the notch, over the ridge, and there was a young red tailed hawk, hovering perfectly still on the breeze, surveying the ground for rodents. I walked up under it, and took this picture.