Recent cold weather brought frost and snow. This hawk was perched on a tree in a pear orchard. It did not turn to face me so I had to settle for head turn.
The pose? Too bright in areas? Bird centered? I think this is an adult sharp shinned hawk. Is it?
7DMKII; 100/400 at 400; 1/320th; 8.0; auto WB; 640ISO; HH. slight crop and sharpening.
Hi Jim,
I like the pose and the brightness looks good to me considering the setting and the BG.
It’s framed well in my opinion and I have no clue on the ID.
I really like the contrast in color from the fruit.
Better than a Partridge in a Pear tree?
@Merv . Thank you. While we have Hungarian Partridges here, they usually are found on the ground (they even fly low when flushed) near agricultural fields especially when they abut our shrub steppe areas. Finding one in a tree, much less a pear tree is rare, although I sure would liked to have found one.
Not sure of your location, Jim, but this is a falcon of some sort (best guess: Merlin).
Regarding the presentation, it actually feels a bit off-center to me—moved just a tick too far left—though I admit this is partially because of the left-oriented pose. I also feel that there’s perhaps too much empty space above. I think a vertical orientation would work well here, but I’d prefer to see about a third chopped off so the frame gets more Merlin and branch texture filling it. Having this much empty space keeps drawing the eye away from the good stuff.
I pretty much echo everything that @Max_Waugh said. I believe this is a female merlin. I also agree that there is too much room at the top of the image and about 1/3 could be removed. I love the tree branches and the rotting pears still clinging to the tree branches. If this is full frame, I wonder if content aware could add some canvas on the left side so as not to make this such a centered bird. Just a thought. If it’s not full frame, then I would revise the crop to add more room on the left side. Nice image regardless.
@Max_Waugh @David_Haynes : Is full frame so cropped top and right side. Thanks.
The crop is good, it does look better.
Nice work!
WHOAH! What a spectacular but still peaceful image! The setting is gorgeous, as is the detail in the bird. Your revised crop is perfect!!
I like the cropped version so much more. Thanks for giving it a shot, Jim.
agreed that the second version is the bomb. Nice job!
hello, Jim, awesome image and the repost is - composition wise - the hammer!
I do not mind at all that it didn’t turn to show its front side, I have a sweet spot for these turned-around poses. I’d say it’s a Merlin, but am not a specialist at American species of course.
Only thing , but hard to tell, is that the focus seems to be a bit more on the shoulders than on the head - but I may be wrong. Not a stopper for sure, I love the image ! Cheers, Hans
Beautiful shot! I love the BG colors with a little snow and orange blended in. The crop is perfect. Nice pose too.
Thank you, all. Thanks for the identification. Your great advice sure improved the image. I just noticed I indicated a slight crop in specs, but as I mentioned later, it is full frame. I failed to mention I removed a small branch from upper left corner. @Hans_Overduin I think the Merlin may have moved its head a little. It was constantly surveying its territory. The combination of 1/320th second, handheld and my not so steady arms probably contributed.
Nice little merlin with its head turned. Crop looks good and with a bird like this more room can help the comp. Merlins are wicked little bird predators and I’m sure it is waiting for something to fly by. Well done…Jim
Thank you.
