Red Shouldered Hawk with Nesting Material

[Juan Tolentino]

I captured this image in Big Cypress, Florida with the Nikon D500 Handheld and Nikkor AF-S 200-500 at 500mm.
ISO 500
f5.6
1/2500
Manual Mode
Processed on LR and PS.
Cropped less than 25%.


All C & C's will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking

JT

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice. I like how the nesting material has been uprooted, earth still hanging to it. Good BG (has it been blurred? It is very smooth), excellent details on the hawk. I also like the earth bits falling down, but I would clone out the one above the bird in a heartbeat.

[annmpacheco]

Way to go Juan, this is terrific! The nesting material takes it over the top for me! Wings look wonderful with detail, well done.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

My preference is for wings up. Especially in this instance, where the head's tonality matches the wings and it kind of feels a bit lost. Not that it is, but having the head separated in this would take this to the highest level.
Of course, that's my personal view. Still, this is an exceptionally high quality image, one anyone would be proud of!
Congrats!

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose, and I like this wing position as much as wings up just wish there was a nice vole hanging from his beak instead of the "ugly" root it does ad a behavioral tough to the image though. Did you apply any kind of blur or strong NR to the BG, the bokeh looks unnatural to me as well.

TFS

[gail bisson]

Hi Juan,
I think this is an excellent behavioral image.
Love the flying bits of dirt and agree with Daniel that I would clone out the one bit above the head.
IQ and sharpness are excellent.
Gail

[Juan Tolentino]

Thank you for the comments and suggestions guys....The NR went out of hand...Here's the repost...Hope is better.