American Kestrel

[ldelacruz]

I finally got one of these guys to get close enough for a photo. Although it was close I had to crop it in about 50%. Katy Prairie Conservancy in Katy, TX. Again my web host reprocesses the file and it degrades the quality quite a bit. It is resized to 75kb.

Canon 40D with 500mm f4 IS with 1.4 TCII handheld

AV mode
ISO 400
1/1600
+2/3 exposure comp
700mm

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely done Lonnie. I only wish that the wings were in the full up position. Sharpnes, EXP, and head angle are all good. Thakns BTW for the link to Katy Prairie.

[Robert Amoruso]

Strong light but it looks like you handled the exposure well. Some of the brightness on the body may be due to the webhosting issue you mentioned.

Appears to be hovering so I think the wing position works well to convey that. The catchlight makes it look like the head is turned away, but I think the head turn is OK.

[Trey Barron]

I like the intense look and the pose. It does seem like you lost some detail with the large crop.

[ldelacruz]

Thanks everyone. If you have hosting suggestion I am all ears. I uploaded a 300K file and they display this file which is 62K.

Arthur,
Katy Prairie is a cool little place and the Hawks, Kestrels and Caracaras are everywhere with the occasional Bald Eagle. They are actually trying to spread the word and a few of us local photogs are providing pictures to help them promote.