American Kestrel

Gallery: AvianPosted January 1, 20151,507 views4 comments

This Kestrel from Bosque last week preferred to perch on the sign posts near the entrance but I kept my eye on him and finally caught the raptor in the right light on a natural perch on the west side of the flight deck pond. Wishing he was a little larger in the frame but as I was using a cropped sensor body I cropped it about as much as I felt comfortable while retaining sharpness.

D300s
Nikkor 300mm f4, 1.4 TC (420mm)
ISO 400
1/1000 @ f/9
HH

PP in LRCC 5.7, NIK Suite, PSCC 14

Comments appreciated.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 1, 2015 at 4:50 PM

Nice capture of this beautiful guy. One of my favorite raptors. I think the decision to limit your crop was wise. The large version still has nice detail in it. The background makes him pop.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on January 1, 2015 at 5:22 PM

Very nice shot. I recognize the Kestrel. Keith and I photographed him yesterday. We saw him on this reed, but were never lucky enough to be there in the right position when he was.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on January 1, 2015 at 11:02 PM

John,
Good looking shot of this male kestrel. Glad you included lots of the environment in this including the dead reeds along the bottom. It definitely adds dimension to the image and gives it some pop while at the same point retaining sharpness. Perch is great and the head angle is pretty good as well. Nice image John. Hope you get the images you are after while in Bosque.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on January 2, 2015 at 3:52 PM

John, I think this is a great shot as posted. The only suggestion I would have is to bring the brightness down on the perch a little.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments