Ms. Cooper

Gallery: AvianPosted October 6, 201395 views3 comments

Sitting reading the Sunday paper this morning and looked out at the birdfeeder and saw this female(?)Cooper's hawk sitting on the top. We often have them pass through the yard as the trails of mourning dove feathers attests to. Once in a while they stop on the feeder for a few moments but this one stayed for the longest time. At first I thought no way would it stay while I went for the camera. But it did, so I started taking some shots of the bird through the double pane glass door. It even took a peak at a rat underneath like it was thinking of a mammalian breakfast. And a squirrel started rustling around in the bushes. This gal never flinched. While the setting isn't the best, I got a few nice poses. I liked this one for the intensity of the eye contact and the eye color. A major crop is the big adjustment but I also warmed it just a bit and did some color correction. A fast shutter speed allowed by the high ISO let me handhold this as there is no IS on this lens. All things considered, I think this made for an interesting photo. I'm interested in your thoughts about this. Anything I could have done differently to make it more appealing?

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4L with 1.4 TC = 235mm
1/2000th at f/5/6 and ISO 1250

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 7, 2013 at 3:32 PM

Hi Peter, the eye contact is the most compelling part of this image. Comp wise I would probably take a little bit off the top. In terms of exposure most of the image looks good but the whites on the vent look blown out, you could try to recover them if you shot in raw. Sharpness looks pretty good for the crop size and shooting through a window. Those talons are impressive. I had a Cooper's take a Douglas Squirrel off of my feeder one time, so they will take mammals occasionally.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on October 7, 2013 at 10:07 PM

Hi, Peter. I love the eye contact and the pose here. I wonder if (and I don't know) the colors of the bird could be just a little richer?

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on October 8, 2013 at 7:51 PM

Peter, nice eye contact and detail and sharpness look good. For me there's too much room up top and too little on the right and the whites of the rump are blown.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments