Cooper's hawk eating lunch

[DanK]

I'm not a bird photographer, but twice recently, I have been walking on a nearby trail when a hawk swooped down to capture prey and couldn't resist. This time it was a Cooper's hawk (or maybe a sharp-shinned hawk) that swooped down to capture a bird and then sat in a (fortunately) low branch, first picking off the feathers and then eating lunch. I had only a 24-105mm (on a FF camera, no less), so I had to do some severe cropping to get these. C&C welcome, as always.

[Sergio M.]

I really like this series, Dan. Lots of detail and clarity.

Pretty darn good for only the second time around.

Sergio

[picsfrommt]

Nice captures.

I'm curious, what shutter speed did you use? The reason I ask is that most parts of the pictures are nice and sharp which I guess means 1/100 sec. or faster. But in the third image, the foot has some motion blur. So how fast does a hawk move its feet when eating and how fast of a shutter speed do you need to freeze it?

Anyway, if I was going to make any suggestions I'd try cropping the 1st and 3rd pictures a little less. I'd just stick with the rule of thirds on them. I'd place the branch running across the picture at about 1/3 of the way up and I'd leave more room in front of the bird. I'm not sure if I'd place the hawk or the vertical branch at the 1/3rd mark.

[DanK]

Thanks. All three were f/10, 1/200.

[John 2]

Nice set. The quality doesn't seem to have suffered from the cropping.

[Geoff F]

I think I would crop #1 a fraction tighter at the bottom. And lose the same from the sides, or a different size ratio. Either way, remove that little bit of a twig which is sticking up from the bottom. Clone out if not cropped.

And #3 could probably also take a fractionally tighter crop at the bottom.

The first two have suffered a bit from the distant, out of focus, twigs taking on a bluish cast. But probably nothing can be done with these. Just the angle of light when shooting.

However, the main subject is excellent.

[Downrigger]

These are great, and the first is my favorite - However severe that crop was, the optics did well enough to give you a lovely, sharp image.

[Bobobird]

A couple of very nice shots.

Which means? You will be joining the bird gang soon.

[DanK]

Thanks, all. Bobo--those big, expensive lenses for birding are a deterrent, I have to say. Geoff--I think the blue cast of the twigs is simply because they are outside of the range of DOF. That blurs the blue sky with the brown twigs.