Sharp-shinned Hawk w/ prey

Very nice capture. I think it could be improved by cropping a bit from the right and from the top, though. Otherwise very nice, with that strikingly red Cardinal.

Oh, and I think raptors should stick to eating ugly birds instead of beautiful ones.

Basil

Awesome

WOW is he still fighting? Great action. I agree a tighter crop might help but I love it. Got any more?

Here's a re-crop.

This is great!!!!!! I prefer the original.

A very impressive action-shot, Bob

Awsome shot!!!!!
I'm jealous!

Fantastic behavioral shot! I like the cropped version better but it if were mine, I'd still crop it some more so there wasn't as much room in the foreground.

VERY cool Bob, and the fact that it's a colorful cardinal instead of a House sparrow or something really adds to the interest of the shot. Great job.

Outstanding!! I like th original best too. Wouldn't change a thing.

I'd would like to hear some commentary about how you got this shot... Having a sharpie fall in your lap with a cardinal is pretty darn lucky!

Hi Bob,

Smokin' shot, great work! I like the original comp best too.

Truly amazing capture, Bob, and I'd love to hear more about the circumstances.

Wow. Very powerful image. Congrats!

Great shot Bob

Cooool

An excellent shot Bob.

Excellent shot!
Tom Merigan
Portola Valley,CA

Awsome! I like the original better too.

I'm with the original camp to Bob. I'm not a PS guy, but is there anyway you know to make the colours pop a bit more, and I am well aware of the snow coming into play here. This is a once in a lifetime shot, and if it were mine I would have tried to work it ten ways to Sunday. Congrats, what a great capture.

Sweet!

Another vote for the original posting!

Our vote is with the first image. This is absolutely remarkable! It may be the very best bird image I've seen at this site yet, but then I love the predator-prey thing. Wonderful!

Brutal beauties of nature ! Amazing image Bob, thanks for sharing.

I'm with the rest of the crew - you had it right the first time and I prefer the original. Amazing once in a lifetime capture! Beings that the background is already white I would consider a very, very slight increase in both brightness and contrast. Amazing!! And congrats!

Best,

Jose

Awesome. Something like this doesn't happen too many times in a lifetime.

This is an absolutely awesome capture. Just look at the Cardinal as it lies beneath the talons of its captor. You can almost here it's cry for mercy. And then the focus shifts to the dead stare of the predator as it prepares to devourer its prey unmercifully. What a drama this is and it's all caught in this magnificent photograph. Bob, my hat is off to you... I like the repost, but the original is better.

What an opportunity! And you certainly made the best of it, awesome image.

I vote for the original too. If you had fed him a starling it still would have been interesting but not as striking. Outstanding Bob! Can you tell us more about this photo?

Poor Cardinal, the hawk certainly has him right where he wants him. Was this a natural take down by the hawk, or some other explanation? I too am very interested to hear the story behind this one.

Oh my!!! Fantastic shot!!!

Hey Bob,

I'm looking at this for the second time, and it's even more amazing. One of the best photographs I've ever seen.

This is fantastic!! Man, of all the prey the sharpie could have had, he has a bright red one with a nicely visible head and open beak and spread wing! How great is that!
I join the vote for the original post - gives it more of a sense of place with those distant woods at the top rather than just a hawk and its prey in the middle of blank white snow.
I, too, am interested in knowing more about the situation that led to this exquisite capture.

Roberta Olenick
Vancouver, BC

Thanks so much for the compliments, all. This was definitedly a case of being in the right place at the right time. I was in a fixed bird blind at a local county park here in PA, only eight miles from my house, that I visit often. There are feeders out in front of the blind to draw birds in, and with the snow, there were a lot of small perching birds all around the area. Many white-throated sparrows, titmice, male and female cardinals, juncos...... All of a sudden, in a split second, all the birds left the area and I heard a quick rustle and then the thump of the hawk pinning the cardinal to the ground. I think he chased him from a tree. There was no warning. The hawks are silent when hunting and the cardinal didn't make any noise either, even when pinned to the ground. I not sure if it could make any noise with all that pressure on it's mid section. The hawk kept the pressure on the cardinal for about a minute and then took off to it's left in a flash with the cardinal in it's talons.

Wow! This is superb.

great shot, well worth being out in the snow :)

Spectacular capture Bob! Just goes to show what can happen when one is out shooting!
Congratulations.

The circle of life...Well done Bob!

Awesome image Bob! I like the original too.

Ken Archer

Hi Bob,
what an awesome shot!

Holy cow, this is SUPERB!

A spectacular photo!

Awesome!

Congrats on the EP Bob! It is well deserved.

WOW!!! What a dramatic capture. Congrats on the very well deserved EP Bob.

Just WOW!

Excellent! I prefer the tighter crop too - and perhaps even a bit more crop, i f possible? I too wish it was not a cardinal, one of my favorite birds, but such is nature..
Excellent capture!
sandy r

Well deserving of the EP. What a shot!!

A dramatic, emotive sight for me. The photography here is superb... and colorful... the eye of the hawk divulging its intensity and 'killer instinct' as it stands proudly over its dreadfully lovely and uncamouflaged catch.
Gives me chills... And a great image for an EP it is, too. Congrats.

Great shot! Congratulations on the pick.

All been said Bob - fantastic. Another vote for the original and congrats on the EP!

Wow, Bob. I don't know how I missed this. But I see it now....Fantastic! Congratulations on the EP

Amazing Image!!!

WOW! This is an amazing image that depicts the reality of nature! Congrats on this unique capture and the EP.

Outstanding image in every way! Incredible action.