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Female Sparrowhawk with prey

Discussion

11 replies
Posted by Colin Preston on June 11, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Female Sparrowhawk with prey
Female Sparrowhawk with a young Blue Tit. Having worked with Sparrowhawks for over twenty years I would think 90% kill and eat their prey on the floor.

Nikon D300.
Nikkor 300mm AFS F2.8.
ISO 640 F8.
Posted by Mike Andrews on June 11, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Having seen sparrow hawks on about 20 occasions, and not yet seen a female, let alone one that is feeding, I am very jealous. Are you in a hide? How close were you to this bird?

Sorry about the questions, but I (and I am sure others) would like some idea of how to get a shot like this. It is a cracker. :smile:
Posted by Robert Lawrence on June 11, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Lovely sharp detailed and interesting behavioural image Colin. It's looking a little bit over saturated on my screen but nothing that I would unduly worry about.
Nice one.
Robert
Posted by Paul Gibbs on June 11, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Very nice shot, always goo to know where a butchers block is. Looks very "roused".
Posted by Billy Fairburn on June 11, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Another really nice sparrowhawk shot colin, great series. Only nit is it does look a tad oversaturated
Posted by Colin Preston on June 11, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Hi Mike, I am in a hide which is on a plucking post where the male is fetching prey items for the female to collect and feed the young .The hide is about 30ft from the plucking post.This is last years site and I have a hide on this years site now.
Posted by Scott Tilley on June 11, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Super image Colin, saturation looks ok on my screen :toast:

Scott
Posted by John Robinson on June 11, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Looks OK to me .
Fine shot.
JohnR
Posted by Lee Newman on June 11, 2009 at 7:31 PM
A cracking image. Looks good on my screen.

Lee
Posted by Ian Cook on June 11, 2009 at 7:51 PM
lovely Spar shot :) it has an evil eye doesnt it :)
Posted by Rob Howard on June 12, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Hi Colin,

That is a very nice image. Colour looks spot on to me. I know the stump probably isnt level but maybe worth giving it a slight CW turn.

Looking forward to your next Spar shot !!

Regards

Rob
Posted by Justin on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Sounds like a great experience photographing these wonderful birds.
A good image indeed but I feel the icing on the cake would be a slight brightness reduction and the bird looks like it has a very slight greenish-cyan cast which should be easy enough to correct. :toast: