Birdarazzi shoots a hawk - June 23, 2012

[rpt]

Well, what can I say, A Hawk came calling yesterday (June 23, 2012) and stayed put on the branch near my house for over one hour and 8 minutes (or 143 snaps) - but who is counting? Well, I did! It was great to have a bird see me and assess that I was not a threat. Not since the times I shot the Black Kites three years back (at another location).

So! Here are the pics. Background. I had issues with the 5D3 and the 100-400 and needed to AFMA - which I have done several times - and this time it seems to have worked. Or so I believe... However, I am told that I am easily pleased and so I would like to have the CR community comment on the pictures. I have done NO post work on these. These are all OOTC JPEGs except that they are cropped and re-sized.









Edit: Lined thumbnails 6 to a row...

[revup67]

I peeked at a few and with respect to the focus I think they look rather good.  If you are still in doubt on the focus I had read awhile back that the 100-400mm may have trouble with a UV on the front.  I removed mine on the 400mm (non zoom) and did notice a difference. Also, to help ID whether this is a Hawk or Merlin or Kestrel you can use whatbird.com  run the wizard to help you locate a positive ID.

[rpt]

I peeked at a few and with respect to the focus I think they look rather good.  If you are still in doubt on the focus I had read awhile back that the 100-400mm may have trouble with a UV on the front.  I removed mine on the 400mm (non zoom) and did notice a difference. Also, to help ID whether this is a Hawk or Merlin or Kestrel you can use whatbird.com  run the wizard to help you locate a positive ID.

Cool! Thanks. Will do both.

[Kernuak]

Focus looks fine to me too. I'm guessing you're in North America, which I'm not familiar with bird-wise. But from the wings, it isn't a falcon, so that rules out kestrel and merlin (even though the N. American kestrel is different). It reminds me of a sparrowhawk (apart from the eye-colour), so I would put it as an Accipiter hawk, rather than a Buteo hawk.

[rpt]

revup67, kernuak, I am located in India. I believe this is a Shikara described on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikra. Look at the third photograph on that page.

Thanks for verifying the focus on my pictures.

[Kernuak]

It could well be a juvenile shikra (as in the second and third photo) and it is an Accipiter hawk as I suspected. In the UK we have the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and the Northern Goshawk, which would be closely related. The yellow or orange eye isn't as obvious as in the sparrowhawks and goshawks seen here though, but reading a bit, the juveniles don't seem to have the bright, staring eyes of the adults.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Sparrowhawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Goshawk

[rpt]

It could well be a juvenile shikra (as in the second and third photo) and it is an Accipiter hawk as I suspected. In the UK we have the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and the Northern Goshawk, which would be closely related. The yellow or orange eye isn't as obvious as in the sparrowhawks and goshawks seen here though, but reading a bit, the juveniles don't seem to have the bright, staring eyes of the adults.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Sparrowhawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Goshawk

Yes you had identified it quite well. There are 2 that hang around and both have this plumage. I guess I found my new muse
I saw some of your photos and they are great. I will seek advise on shooting small birds from you at a later time if you don't mind.

[Kernuak]

It could well be a juvenile shikra (as in the second and third photo) and it is an Accipiter hawk as I suspected. In the UK we have the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and the Northern Goshawk, which would be closely related. The yellow or orange eye isn't as obvious as in the sparrowhawks and goshawks seen here though, but reading a bit, the juveniles don't seem to have the bright, staring eyes of the adults.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Sparrowhawk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Goshawk

Yes you had identified it quite well. There are 2 that hang around and both have this plumage. I guess I found my new muse
I saw some of your photos and they are great. I will seek advise on shooting small birds from you at a later time if you don't mind.

Thanks, as with anything though there is a certain amount of luck, combined with knowing the subject.

Here's a little insight.

http://avalonlightphotoart.wordpress.com/photographic-and-nature-articles/wildlife-photography/