Red Shouldered Fluff

Nice 1 footed pose you captured. Bummer about the head not being so sharp. You must have done a good job with the noise as it looks clean to me. Nicely done.

Good, clear colors. Can't wait for Nikon to release the new 300 2.8
Noise control looks fine to me.

The birders I spoke to the other day had a name for this fluffing behavior, sadly I cant remember what it was. Great image Cheryl.

Because of the direct look, the sharpness of the head really looks fine to me. Sure the very back feathers are soft, but he beak looks sharp and the eyes look good too. The noise is a none issue. Not much to be seen. I just wish for a more natural looking perch. Overall a very nice shot of the bird.

Good shot. It looks like he was having a bad feather day and didn't appreciate being photographed.

Its a very interesting pose and image with the raised foot and direct stare. But why ISO 640? Why such a high shutter speed? Was this tripod mounted or hand held (the tripod would have let you shoot at a much lower SS and ISO)? Cropped or full frame?

Hi everyone and thankyou. Richard , The sun was in and out and my ISO was up and down. I was shooting a nesting pair of GBH anticipating the arrival of a flyer with twigs when I saw this guy. Poor preparation on my part for this image as I did have it on a tripod and could easily dropped it down. I wish I had a dollar fo everytime I wasn't technically prepared.

Nits aside, and already mentioned, I rather like these face on shots from time to time. If you want eye contact you can't beat being stared at full on.

This is nice Cheryl--a very cute looking hawk. I like the direct look, raised foot, and ruffled feathers. I think that the sharpness on the head is fine, and don't see noise as a concern. I think I'd crop more from the bottom if it were mine.

I love the messed up feathers on the head and the comical direct stare. I think the bird is sharp enough. I really like this post.

Terrific pose, both the head-on look, and that raised foot. In an ideal world, I too would like a bit more DOF on the head, but it's far from an image killer on this shot. Very cool.

Love the stare and the one leg up pose. Very, very nice image of a beautiful species. Noise/sharpness look good to me.

Love it. I laughed out loud the minute I saw this. Awesome catch, Cheryl.

Thanks so much for the positive feedback

Wonderful pose, Cheryl. The straight-on look and raised foot plus the fluff really give him punk look. I don't see any significant noise in the image.

Great capture Cheryl.
May