Broad Winged Hawk

[tufcat]

[JJthethird]

Nice shot Tufcat, nice focus and composition. My only criticism is that some of the white feathers are a wee bit blown out,which loses some of the texture, saying that I know how difficult it can be to shoot birds with white feathers !

Good catch though,

John.

[clockdoc]

Nice work with your Nikon. Was this shot with the 80-200mm lens?

[terryjoey]

Good shot.

[tufcat]

JJ, the afternoon sun was low in the sky to the left of the picture. I hadn't even noticed the blownout feathers. Good observation.

Originally Posted by clockdoc

Nice work with your Nikon. Was this shot with the 80-200mm lens?

Doc, don't laugh, but I shot this with my 80mm and 1.4x teleconverter. My 80-200 was in the shop. The 80mm/teleconverter combination was the full extent of my telephoto capabilities that day.

I had walked up on this hawk (or another one like him) several days earlier. He was sitting in a tree (at eye level) about fifteen feet from me. As these things go, I didn't have my camera, so we just kinda looked at each other. I spent the next several days trying to get close enough to make up for the missed opportunity.

When I finally came across the opportunity to take this shot, I found the hawk sitting on top of a ten foot high utility wall. I made my way to within about fifty feet and started shooting. He never seemed to get excited as I made my way closer to him. He just stared and let me walk right up to him. I wish they were all that easy.

terryjoey, as always, thanx for your kind words.

[mikem12188]

tufcat,

Beautiful work. It's nice to have a subject that knows how to model for you.

[tufcat]

Originally Posted by mikem12188

tufcat,

Beautiful work. It's nice to have a subject that knows how to model for you.

mikem, thanx for the complement.

This guy was a good model. In the end, I almost expected him to give me a little smile.

The older I get, the smarter my parents get.

How true. I hope my kids figure this out pretty soon.