Ferruginous Hawk photographed without a spotting scope

Sunday, I drove by El Toro Marine Base – now “Orange County Great Park” and found a Ferruginous Hawk perched out on one of the trees. I decided to try and take a photo of the bird despite the fact that just about everything was against getting a good photo of it. The day was mostly cloudy with intermittent rain and the lighting was very poor. Since this portion of the “Great Park” is not open to the public, the closest I could get to this bird was off Irvine Ave. Also to make things worse, the area is enclosed by an 8-foot chain link fence that would mar any picture taken through it. A range-finder confirmed the perch of the hawk to be 218 yards away. So this was going to be a challenge to get a nice photo. Luckily I had all the right stuff to make an attempt.

Same Ferruginous Hawk Digiscoped through the Leica spotting scope

I had to climb through my sunroof of my car. Standing on the center console got me an unobstructed view over the fence. Fully extending one leg of the tripod and setting it on the seat gave some support. I now had an unobstructed view over the fence.  This was a very unsteady position. Trying to take a picture from this position in poor lighting was going to be interesting! I wondered what the drivers of the cars whizzing by on Irvine Ave thought. Did they understand that I was just another crazy bird watcher taking a picture? At least the Irvine police who patrol the base didn’t find me! These sorts of things can be difficult to explain in the post-911 era…

The Leica D-Lux4 camera and digiscoping adapter is very simple. Just slip over the eyepiece of the Apo-Televid 82 spotting scope and start taking quality pictures. I am no digiscoping pro, nor am I expert at photography with a pocket camera. So, the Leica digiscoping outfit is simple, fast and yields impressive pictures..

Is it worth the trouble?? What trouble?