Another Favorite: Where's Breakfast?

This is another shot of our resident Cooper’s hawk that has learned to take advantage of our bird feeder buffet. A pile of mourning dove feathers near our front door suggests that she has been a very successful hunter. Unfortunately, my main hard drive was getting quite full and was not able to download all of my photos from the last trip. After some disk cleaning I found this one and I like how she was staring at me. Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Specific Feedback Requested

This is quite a crop as my previous post and I did a little cloning to get rid of the perch in the lower RH corner. I perked up the contrast and detail with Topaz Adjust.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
D500 600mm f4 (1/320 sec at f8.0, Iso 640). Levels, Topaz DeNoise with final edits with Topaz Adjust. I cropped for a more vertical composition and cloned out a branch in the lower RH corner.

jameszablotny

Jim, it looks like he is sizing you up for breakfast! He is giving you quite the stare. I always enjoy seeing a bird face on. Great shot.

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You must be a very brave man, Jim, to see this look and continue to shoot away. Great details in the feathers and the “look” would have sent me running! Very nicely seen and executed.

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Great close up expression image! Super clean processing and sharpness as well. What’s for breakfast? “I’m looking at it!”

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Spectacular detail, Jim. I can see why it’s a favorite.

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Oh, man – that is THE LOOK!! Wonderful capture!

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Jim, I’m amazed that she let you get a tight portrait. Even as we say, “We feed ALL the birds at our feeder.”, the hawks are very skittish. The stare is awesome and the white background fits perfectly.

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Hi Jim and Happy Holidays to you also. I can never get enough of tight raptor shots and this one is suburb. Details galore, and although I’ve seen many owls (in captivity) with a similar look, this one seems to have his eyes turned in a bit, which exaggerates the effect.

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@Jim_Zablotny That’s quite the look. I can think of several ways to interpret it, but all of them are telling me who’s boss. I really like this image. So sharp and I love the direct stare and simple colors.

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Now that’s up close and personal! Great super close capture, Jim.

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