We are always happy to receive photographs from our members, visitors and supporters. The one that I like best of those recently received by me will be featured on this page. That I choose a picture does not imply or deny technical or artistic merit. It's just one I particularly liked at the time I made my choice. All images are appreciated and many that don't make this page do appear elsewhere on the site.
Please respect the photographers' intellectual property rights when using this page.
Clicking on an image displayed in this Picture of the Week feature brings up a larger version.
The first image selected this week comes from Hamish Smith and shows Siberian Eagle Owl Cinnamon in flight. Of particular interest here is the way in which the feathers are arranged to achieve total control in flight. The spread tail, the extended alulae (the small group of feathers half way along the leading edge of each wing, acting like front flaps on an aircraft) and the way the main primary and secondary flight feathers are arranged all point to a superbly controlled, low speed, tight turn. They also speak to the necessity of keeping those feathers in tip-top condition. Hamish used a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV at 500mm, 1/4000s at f/4 and ISO 800.
To keep those feathers in condition involves more than cleaning and preening; making sure that the important flight feathers are properly closed up. It is also necessary to ensure that, underneath the outer feathers on body and wings, the downy feathers have air trapped in them for insulation and buoyancy. My second selection this week, from Roger Byrne, shows Gary's Merlin Lester rousing - shaking his feathers out to trap air in the down and arrange the outer feathers to put himself in condition for his flight. Canon EOS 5D Mark II at 400mm, 1/1000s at f/5.6 and ISO 2500.
If you would like to see one of your photographs featured here, simply select a digital photograph that you have taken recently at the Trust, at a demonstration or other event involving Trust staff and birds, or of a Bird of Prey in the wild, and send it to me, Keith Channing, as an email attachment (.jpg preferred). If you can, please leave the EXIF data intact. The image width should be at least 1600 pixels and the total size of the email including the single image must not exceed 10MB. You can alternatively send your image to the same email address, without size limitation, using a file transfer service such as www.wetransfer.com. Tell me a little about the photograph, too. Although I can't guarantee to use what you tell me, it will enable me to do more than just describe what people can see for themselves.
This is open to amateur and professional photographers of all ages (although I should prefer to see parental permission if the photographer is under 16), and it makes no difference if the camera used cost ten thousand pounds or came free with a packet of breakfast cereal.
No prize or payment of any kind is offered. The photographer will be credited and we can provide a link to the photographer's web site if requested and if appropriate. You must be the sole author and owner of the copyright for any image submitted for consideration and, by submitting your image, you give the Hawk Conservancy Trust a non-exclusive licence to reproduce the image on its web sites and in other media, without payment, for promotion and publicity purposes. All photographs received by our webmaster are placed in the Trust's photograph library and may be used for promotional or publicity purposes on our web sites or in print (posters, flyers, post cards etc). Requests from others for permission to use these images will always be referred to the photographer at the photographer's last known email address.
... and don't forget to check this page regularly to see
if your photograph has made it!
Selected featured images showing birds of prey are archived (unless you ask us not to) and can be viewed here. It is also available as an Atom feed
