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Sparrowhawk

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Sparrowhawk

  • Tiny
    Member
    Goosebanker
    Participant

    Really nice to get so close to these birds, the yellow eyes are great. The focus and exposure looks spot on to me but I think the shot would have looked better if the camera had have been shifted to the left a little, just an inch or two, with less empty space on the right and more on the left for the bird to look into. I think upping the contrast a little would bring out the feather detail and grass texture a bit too, just a touch. At the moment it’s slightly flat looking, but I’m also viewing on a laptop at the moment so it may be my screen.

    miki g
    Participant

    A beautiful capture, but I agree with Goosebankers comments. Had it something spotted? It looks very alert. Great detail in the eyes. Well done

    Goosebanker
    Participant

    Just looked again, this time on a calibrated screen. Looks more saturated and contrasty now. Did you edit in the meantime? If not, discard what I said in the 1st post regarding contrast/flatness.

    Seaview
    Participant

    Goosebanker is right, the composition is all wrong. :lol: :lol: Ah, I’d love to see one of these in the wild not to mentioned take a picture of one. A super shot with stunning detail, really love the eyes.

    Dave.

    Mark
    Keymaster

    Tiny, great capture. It must have taken a huge amount of effort to get this.

    Beautiful bird, well done !

    The Kew Tour
    Member

    Seaview, I saw one in Newbridge Park in Donabate on Thursday. It was flying low over the canopy chasing what I think was a Great Tit. The smaller bird was doing some ducking and diving and eventually lost the hawk who then went across a field and caused a group of Wood Pigeons to disperse in all directions. It was like a dogfight from the Battle of Britain. It was a stunning spectacle.

    Noely F
    Participant

    wonderful hen! I’ve no shots on the ground…not lucky enough :wink:

    Alan Rossiter
    Participant

    Excellent clinical specimen shot. I’ve looked at many a source trying to identify a Merlin that I happened on earlier in the year and if I’d come across a few shots like this of birds of prey I think I wouldn’t have needed the Doc (griangraf) to identify it for me.

    Alan

    Tiny
    Member

    Thanks for the comments guys, looks to have been a good year for Sparrowhawk’s, Ive seen a lot around recently ,and we even have a pair breeding here in UL. We also get otters, kingfisher, kestrels, herons all breeding within the university grounds, but you would be surprised how many people have no idea they around and walk around the campus here every day with out ever seeing any wildlife at all. The Photo Soc here are currently building a wildlide photographic hide on the bank of the river here. If anyone is interested in paying a visit when its completed, which should be any day now, let me know

    Niall

    Noely F
    Participant

    Urban wildlife is definitely on the increase, which is good or bad really :wink: I’m on the northside of Dublin and lucky to have
    a wide variety of birds and mammals on my doorstep. I’m amazed at the amount of people that dont know the extent of
    species in their area.

    Goosebanker
    Participant

    I didn’t notice either until I got a camera about 5 years ago :idea: . I think that makes a big difference, I know it’s cliche’d but photography definitly makes you “see” things. Most people go around with their eyes shut :roll:

    randomway
    Member

    So be honest, what did you use? A hampster for bait with superglue on it’s back?

    You don’t see these birds walking around in the grass for too long. It’s a lucky thing snapping a photo of one.

    Still, I have to point out that there is no action, no killing the prey, blood pouring out of the flesh…

    ..only joking.

    Tiny
    Member

    You cant imagine the pain involved in getting that shot ;-)

    Niall

    jb7
    Participant

    wow, lovely, that’s close-
    is it cropped at all?

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