Female Sparrowhawk


No too far from my home I found a nest a while ago and followed the proceedings. Unfortunately the tree with nest has collapsed after a moderate storm last week. Not sure whether or not the chicks had just flown out or not. The female bird however is still hanging around, so the young may be around - although I haven’t seen evidence of that. We will record it i the books as a failed breeding activity. She looks a little taken aback, but that might be my anthropomorphic way of thinking, as I have followed her for quite some years now… Anyway, I have several close-ups as well, but opted this morning for a wider shot showing the habitat of these birds. Thanks for any comments and have a nice weekend, Cheers, Hans

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Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Nikon D500 with 500mm | 1/400s | f4 | ISO900 | underexposed 1/3EV | tripod

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A very nice habitat shot. An impressive looking tree and I really like the perch she is on. Hawk might be a bit too centered for my taste and bg a tad too bright but it is still a really nice shot with a very spacious feel. Interesting that you have been following the hawk for such a longtime. Nice.

Sorry to hear about the tree collapsing, Hans. A beautiful environmental shot of this bird. It’s always a treat to be able to follow the activities of a bird for several years. Hopefully they’ll find a suitable nesting site nearby.

Thanks, I thought about cropping the image but wanted to have the trees on the right included to give some depth to the image. It’s not the ‘rule of thirds’, but rules are meant to be broken every now and then :wink:

Thanks Dennis, yes, it feels like a privilege indeed, makes you feel you ‘know’ the bird a bit :slight_smile: