Coopers Hawk - thru' double panes of window

alandrapal - Sep 22, 2008 09:32 PM EDT
hi again, Steve, - should have been more specific & should've said that the wings of the hawk are what the auto focus chose to concentrate on, being closer than the hawk's head (rather than "body")

alandrapal - Sep 22, 2008 09:30 PM EDT
Hi again, Steve. I have the camera set on "sports" setting for fast action for the birds, and it's on partial auto setting. My thought on the fuzzy head is that the camera was auto-focussing on the body of the bird, due to it being slightly closer, so that may be why the head isn't sharper. Not sure tho'. Am planning, if the hawk lands there again, to try manual focus, - altho that hasn't worked too well with some hummingbird shots I tried to get, -- or I might try this same setup that I used for these shots, and focus on it's head. But then it's feet or body might be fuzzy :) It would be amazing if I happened to sit there when it nabs a squirrel or songbird, - but I'd probably react spontaneously and yell or do something to scare the hawk off, - but who knows.

sgbrown - Sep 22, 2008 04:20 PM EDT
Would be amazing to capture him in the act of nabbing a squirrel! It's a slight pity that the head is a little fuzzy - do you think this is the bird moving, or is it that the depth of focus is so small that when the feet are in focus, the head isn't? Did you use auto-focus or manual?

alandrapal - Sep 22, 2008 04:03 PM EDT
squirrels and songbirds, Steve, and thanks for the nice comment. He sat there for quite awhile, so I was able to capture lots of images. Unfortunately they're all a bit hazy around the head area. But anyway, thought it was pretty unusual to be able to get photos of a hawk in the wild, at as close range as this one was, so had to take a chance on it. Thankyou also, Beverly and Karen for your nice comments. These Coopers hawks visit our property all winter, and sometimes we also get the red tailed hawks, but not as often. They remain in the nearby farmlands mostly.

sgbrown - Sep 22, 2008 03:25 PM EDT
In the circumstances this is a superb capture. What is a hawk expecting to catch on your patio?!

Karen Moen - Sep 22, 2008 08:05 AM EDT
Love how you managed to captures this image. It is a beautiful bird but probably bad news for your regular visitors. A red tail hawk visited our patio a couple of times but I went out and scared it off. I don't want it hunting near the bird feeders!

talsi - Sep 22, 2008 07:08 AM EDT
Nice shot for through a double pane window.