Cooper's Hawk Display

[Bill Jobes]

Here's a Cooper's hawk proudly displaying tail feathers after several minutes of preening.

I'll resist the urge to have some fun writing captions.

Canon 1Ds Mark III
500 F/4 w/1.45 TC
1/1600
ISO 640
Partial Metering
Manual Exposure

Comments and critiques as always welcome and appreciated.

[Fabs Forns]

What a poser!!! That tail is to die for, no wonder he's so proud of it!

I'd probably reduce the catch light a bit.

[Doug Brown]

Like the fanned tail pose complete with a nice head turn Bill. It looks like a fairly tight crop and the bird sits further left in the frame than I would place it. I would tone down the bright areas of the perch too. Thanks for posting!

[Bill Jobes]

Thanks Fabs ... I see what you mean about the catch light. That's a keen observation!

Doug, thank you as well for your comments, the perch light in particular. I should have caught that myself!

And yes, it is a tight crop, as there wasn't much around the bird and branch other than blue sky.
It does look good, however, with more space around the bird.

[Linda Robbins]

What a cute pose,. Good suggestions offered above, but this is a very arresting image.... Nice capture.

[Bill Jobes]

Many thanks, Linda.
It was much fun to watch it go through its paces.