Coopers Hawk. Salem, Massachusetts.
This Coopers let me stand just feet away from him for about half an hour before taking flight to where they have been seen building up a nest.
What I like about this image it's the stare down like you said. It draws my eyes to the birds face and I really like the light pinkish colorful background.
I do find a few things that could be fix to improve the image. The flash reflection from the eye can be clone out, mostly from the left eye, also the branch running behind the bird it is a bit distracting and it can also be cloned out. Finally I wish for more room at the bottom with the tail feathers not been clipped. This all can be fixed with a bit of work in photoshop if you ok with manipulation of the image?
Welcome to BPN. Makes me wonder if the hawk was sizing you up for nesting material!
Imperious pose, great eye contact, nice use of fill flash.
Good comments from Raybel. Part of the issue with the crossing branch behind the back is the high contrast with the bright background. You could do some gentle selective reduction in contrast and brightness of the background to downplay that effect.
Lots of options here.
Be sure to comment on other folks images, the best way to train your eye.
Stare-down with a Coopers
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