I posted this in critique too...but since it's nature, I'll post here. :)

It's a great snaphot, julsoph.
What I find a bit distracting, though is the clutter of twigs and branches in the background.
And apparently, the focus is more on the foreground branch than the advancing bird.
But it's a good framing for a snapshot that didn't leave very much time for thinking about it. Praise for the capture of the right moment from me! :)

I posted this in critique too...but since it's nature, I'll post here. :)


Do you by any chance have a previous image of it perched. I don't see to many hawks from ABOVE :) I can only see the back and top of the wing detail here.

Yep...a couple, Paul. :) I wish he had been a little closer...I had to use the telephoto at the very highest on these. The one with him looking right at me, I was actually leaning over my railing to get a clear shot of his head...lol.

And thanks seileasdar...I feel the same way about the branches...:)

Cooper's hawks hunting for your feeder birds ;) 2 BIRDS!!!!! TOP is an adult, bottom a juvenile

:eek: Really??? I would have sworn it was the same bird...but I didn't see it fly up to the upper branch, so I guess that the adult snuck in there while I wasn't looking!!!

How do you tell the juvenile?

WITH MY EYES :)

Look at the chest in both images. Juveniles have dark brown STREAKED chests, while adults have an orangish heavily BARRED chest :)

EYE COLOR is also an ID mark ;) YELLOW in juveniles, RED in adults.

OH YEAH..... I am a bird nerd for sure :D

Lol...funny!

I was actually wondering if it was the eye color, when I went back and looked. Good to know!

Do they show behavioral differences too (I assume they do)? The juvenile is the one flying...and I was surprised at how quickly he dove after the birds...whereas the adult sat up on that branch for HOURS. I wondered if he had just gotten patient...lol!

Well an adult will be more educated on how to hunt ;)