I've been trying to catch the resident Cooper's Hawk (now can be confirmed) for a while, with no success. Today, while doing yard chores I heard some screaming & went to investigate & in one of my neighbor's driveways I found this hawk & its kill. Thought it was a squirrel since I had a hard time getting close & it was in a rather dark area in the shade under an oak tree. But this is some kind of bird with a longer slightly curved beak & very colorful - we now believe it to be Red-shafted Northern Flicker based on the colors; brown head/crown, gray face & chest, red mustache (so a male), red wing & tail lining & brown-barred back. This is a large prey, 11-14 inches, which I believe as it was almost as big as the Cooper's Hawk (male 15 inches & female 19 inches according to one of my books).
I'm angry with myself for deciding to use the on board flash - - I got a lot of shots, but most of them with red eyes....... Handheld with the 300mm f/4 Nikkor/Nikon lens.
Nice job Lil, you don't see that too often. I have a coopers doing some hunting at my bird feeder, I can't wait to get some better shots of this beautiful Hawk.
Are you positive thats a Coopers, Looks similar to a Red Shoulder to me. I'm not a expert though.
I took a better look at the tail, I think your right. It's a Coopers
I have many more shots where I have side view of the bird etc. It's definitely a Cooper's, but that's also how I know the prey is a Red-shafted Northern Flicker. I have to process some more shots & will post those here as well. I have the bird on the ground in side view so I could for sure identify it.
had it not been for the screaming of the prey bird & me getting home from my ride when I did I'd missed it.
I need to be outside more & spend less time in front of the computer. I've known of the hawk's presence for the last few weeks, but kept missing it. I hope it decides there's good hunting around here & decides to build a nest nearby.
If I then locate the nest, then I might have a chance at following the chicks..... I ride the horses all over the area, so I might stand a chance at that. I would love that experience. There are no eagles around here, so I have to make due with what I find. This is my first real bird of prey shots so I'm rather excited.
I'm lucky to live in a suburban/urban environment - - just urban enough for the hawk to want to hang out.
Thanks Jay,
it's not a great sequence. After all, kill happened in a driveway, have some of those.... & as I tried to get closer, the bird flew into this tree & I did my best to maneuver closer to it. Finally it flew off & I was doing this hand held & was not prepared so I missed that. I would have been better off on a zoom than a prime for that. I went for quality & IQ - I only had moments to decide what to do & hope the hawk would not fly off with it's prey.
I'll get a few more ready & upload to my site & add later. Got to eat dinner now.
Sure looks like a Cooper's to me - a mature adult. I watched a nesting pair and their four young ones last year - beautiful birds. The adults I watched would take different birds and the occasional cottontail. Steve W
Thanks for the confirmation Steve. This was a totally new subject for me, though I shoot birds when & as I can. These were my first real bird of prey shots - - wonderful experience.
I've learned one very important thing..... Much of this is pure luck. The subject being there, us being there & the camera available with needed lens - along with the light being there.
So much is plain luck. So today I ended up being lucky the way I see it.
The series I've gotten today are my very first bird of prey shots, I only have a few very far away flight shots before & they're very bad. I'm amazed it became a series with prey. Pure luck.
Well, Jay requested more shots - so now that I've gone through them....
Well, yesterday I was too excited to get all the shots done before I posted here (my first real shot of a bird of prey after all). So I uploaded only one shot & posted...
Now I've done some pp'ing on the eyes & a little cropping & I've uploaded the 19 (I hope) usable shots I got. I'm not posting the shots here - - plainly too many. So here's the link to my gallery with the shots http://lilknytt.zenfolio.com/p905813165/
C&C will be welcome & I'm especially interested in how you feel the eyes work. I used NX to correct them..... If you feel the shots are a tad dark, please know that it was in low light & the hawk was always in dark areas due to shade or such. I personally like the "mood" I got.
Lil, I got your PM requesting feedback and since I wanted to include some images to demonstrate various points I was making, I sent you an email rather than comment here.
Please don't get discouraged. There is much more to photography than expensive lenses. If my critiques came across as overly negative, I sincerely apologize.
Lil,
Thanks for posting the additional shots -- you captured the sequence well.
I hope you are not serious with your opinion about the FM Forum.
I think your shots showcased an experience that most of us would have liked to share. When you see something like the Cooper's on prey and are lucky enough to have your equipment -- hey, it is great to get even one shot -- you got many! Next time you might be lucky enough to be set up better, have the needed lens and you will get better shots.
We all can't have the 500mm+ glass and the latest new bodies - I sure as hell don't have them and most who post on FM don't either. I have shots that I am extremely proud of that would be considered crap by many on this forum but I have posted some of them in the past because I liked them and wanted to share. Your shots were not the best but they were shots that I for one was happy to see because they did what photography is about in my opinion -- they captured an event, a moment -- something that was important to you and you were able to share that event. Photography documents life and that is what you did. Thanks!
I have been given great feedback by a lot of FM members and encouragement about my attempts. That encouragement has been great and it has been greatly appreciated when I become too critical or not critical enough about what I am doing. I have had advice given that I hope helps me improve - I sure need to!
Hang in there -- keep posting and I am sure you will find that most of the folks on FM are wonderful folks that photograph because they love doing so and they will share their experiences and knowledge freely. I hope what I have written doesn't offend you, it was not my intent. Looking forward to your next post!
The additional shots posted have great color and detail. I think you did what you could with the eyes - I don't know what you could have done unless you cloned in the yellow - orange eyes. Steve W
Steve W
Please don't get discouraged. There is much more to photography than expensive lenses. If my critiques came across as overly negative, I sincerely apologize.
Jay
Hi Jay,
no problem & I can validate all my decisions - - my vision, my choices. You've not upset me in any way. Constructive feedback is always appreciated.
alameda wrote:
Lil,
Thanks for posting the additional shots -- you captured the sequence well.
Thank you - most kind. More at my Zenfolio site should you wish to see what I got in total.
I hope you are not serious with your opinion about the FM Forum.
Well..... can't say I feel all that welcome yet - - guess it comes down to earning my way. Better here than in the other forum I've visited.....
I think your shots showcased an experience that most of us would have liked to share. When you see something like the Cooper's on prey and are lucky enough to have your equipment -- hey, it is great to get even one shot -- you got many! Next time you might be lucky enough to be set up better, have the needed lens and you will get better shots.
To me it was something special - I've not ever had this experience. I see them flying way above me. I see them sitting in trees - yet always when I have nothing to shoot them with. I'm almost always on a horse riding when that happens.....
We all can't have the 500mm+ glass and the latest new bodies - I sure as hell don't have them and most who post on FM don't either. I have shots that I am extremely proud of that would be considered crap by many on this forum but I have posted some of them in the past because I liked them and wanted to share.
You have the right attitude, that's for sure. Thanks for words of encouragement.
Your shots were not the best but they were shots that I for one was happy to see because they did what photography is about in my opinion -- they captured an event, a moment -- something that was important to you and you were able to share that event. Photography documents life and that is what you did. Thanks!
Thank you so very much
I have been given great feedback by a lot of FM members and encouragement about my attempts. That encouragement has been great and it has been greatly appreciated when I become too critical or not critical enough about what I am doing. I have had advice given that I hope helps me improve - I sure need to!
It's all about growing & refusing to stagnate - - but it's also about enjoyment
Hang in there -- keep posting and I am sure you will find that most of the folks on FM are wonderful folks that photograph because they love doing so and they will share their experiences and knowledge freely. I hope what I have written doesn't offend you, it was not my intent. Looking forward to your next post!
Your post does not offend me - how could it?! You're being supportive & encouraging. I can't thank you enough.
The additional shots posted have great color and detail. I think you did what you could with the eyes - I don't know what you could have done unless you cloned in the yellow - orange eyes. Steve W
Steve W
Thanks Steve, this one has orange eyes & cloning might work..... but may end up looking even more fake.
Some additional information....
I set out to shot with a small DOF & set the f/stop to f/4 - - that's wide open. I wanted & intended to ensure the BG to be OOF - - I knew I was dealing with ugly (driveway) & busy (tree) BGs & needed to do what I could to get some kind of acceptable bokeh - - this was all I could think of doing.
Lighting was a pain due to the shadows of the tree & driveway covered by a huge oak tree. Flash was not my preference, nor was 1/250s as I was on a 300mm & really wanted a faster shutter speed to ensure less shake - - this is shot hand held after all. I did get some & would have liked less...
Angles was a pain. Driveway I had to consider coming from the right, but that could have startled the bird & driveway was the least noisy. So I preferred the straight on approach. In the tree, I approached as I went along & shot as I walked around trying for best angle. The bird allowed me what it did - - I shot as I went. I had no way of knowing how long she was going to tolerate me.
Also, the bird was high above me in the tree. Luckily my neighbor's driveway is on a slope so I got up higher as best as I could. I got fairly close - - probably because this bird is somewhat used to people with horses etc. People ride their horses all over here, so the bird has to be used to seeing people at least a little.
I tried to work with her in regards to my approach. I would move when she looked away etc. Nothing startling etc. Tried to not make any sudden movements, stuff like that.
