Canon EOS 60D ,Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/500s f/8.0 at 200.0mm iso800
Another very late post. Sorry. I got sick shortly after returning from a business trip last week, spent a couple days in bed, and then had to catch up on all kinds of things…
Last Sunday, we took a stroll on the cliffs above La Jolla Cove. We watched plenty of kayaks, along with a few sea lions and pelicans, until my wife suddenly realized that a peregrine falcon was sitting in a tree right in front of us, probably no more than 15 feet away.
First lesson learned: Look around more!
The light was really bad. The falcon was sitting in the shade, with the sun coming mostly from behind (and a little to the side), and the sky was really bright. If I had shot jpeg and not processed the image, I would have had a choice between a completely black bird or a completely blown out white sky.
However, I always shoot raw, and with some heavy processing both in the conversion from raw to psd and then in Photoshop, I was able to get quite a decent image. It might not win a prize for best bird photography, but it was a nice enough reward for having learned a second lesson:
Don’t give up too easily!
Recording The Light 
Agreed, a shot worth the effort. Often bird of prey photos show plumage that is almost too smooth and thus the bird appears merely “frozen” in the moment. What I like here is that despite the fact the bird is sitting, a subtle motion is created by the breeze-ruffled feathers. Nice work.