I shot this one last year at Bosque. As I was driving toward Bosque I noticed this Cooper's Hawk perched on a railing by a canal at sunrise. Rather than go on in, I turned around and parked on the side of the road. I got a couple of shots but once he looked me square in the eye....he was gone.
I shot this vertical and just cropped all around. I think I also cloned out part of the next leg of the railing. The color is as is....no saturation added. I really liked the look he gave me and decided to keep it despite the "hand of man" railing.
Canon 1DMKIIN, 500mmL IS, 2XTC, beanbag
ISO 400, ss 1/400, f/11 (manual exposure)
RAW conversion, cropped from vertical, USM
Actually the perch doesn't bother me. In fact, we had a student in the IPT that lives in NYC and he does birds of pray in architecture. You would not believe the impact on a Red-shouldered Hawk sitting in a gargoyle. Of course, his compositional talent is amazing and that helps. But the lesson learned there is not to dismiss man-made elements so lightly, they can actually add, and hey, we are men ;)
Outstatnding image Lana and the coloring of the BG blends so beautifully with the coloring of the coopers hawk. The lighting was awesome and the detail and eye contact in this image is superb. Sweet image for sure. Love it.
Beautiful bird and image, Lana -- a definite keeper in my book. I'm making peace with man-made perches, especially for raptors, since that is what they so often prefer to use. As I said above, at least it often puts them in reach for a shot!
Bosque Cooper's Hawk
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