Menacing Cooper's Hawk

[EriksCanon]

There is a great story and i'll make it snappy. Im a huge sports photographer and I have good gear, just okay for wildlife stuff, not like a 600mm f/4, but this just goes to show you PURE patience in the freezing cold . Anyway, I wa soutside for an hour freezing and I sit and wait for any birds and wait for the occasional hawk. And my teacher is a huge birder and works with bird counting areas and said Cooper's Hawks are uncommon to rare were we are at and just to look out for them. So, after an hour I go inside and wait with my camera and 5 minutes later, eye level this hawk swoops by behind my shed. So I go outside and sneak over to the shed and he takes off, in a circle around my yard while im blasting away 8 shots a second to get him, but he was too close. Anyway he made his way onto my neighbors fence where I took about 30 shots in 4 seconds. I went to switch to AI SERVO to get him taking off but when I looked up, he was gone. Anyway, the pic was taken with and at:

Canon 7D (for the crop)
Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS
Canon 1.4 Extender
@ 672mm f/8 spot metering ISO 800

Just a beautiful Cooper's Hawk with a bird in his claws.

[Canyon Hiker]

That's a awesome shot. I have been waiting to get a shot like that for years..and I'm still waiting, and I live in the middle of a forest, go figure. I checked out your website and blogs..keep up the good work and stick with what your doing. Your sports shots are really good. Sports photography is a great tool and tons of fun, and I can see you are using it. Let me know when Nat Geo hires you..or maybe ESPN. Then you can donate some of your gear to me Keep up the good work!!

Darin

[EriksCanon]

Darin, thank you very much! Im still surprised at how it happened, I mean I tried with the story but when he flew in that circle before landing he was about 15 feet away! haha, I couldn't even find him I was soo close! But thank you and keep looking! I just sit outside after I get home from class for 30 min to an hour and wait and listen. And again thank you! My goal is to be a professional sports photographer, so hopefully my path will take me there. Halfway there :]

[CaraRose]

Nice Juvie. Looks like he got a sparrow.

[OldClicker]

Nice capture! I'm still trying to get my first Coopers. - TF

[CaraRose]

Nice capture! I'm still trying to get my first Coopers. - TF

You should come into Chicago, I see them a lot. Two were circling at the nature center Saturday. This morning one flew over my car as I was getting on the expressway. A few weeks ago I saw two circling over the buildings at Austin and Belmont Plenty of pigeons keep them happy and well fed I guess.

[Singletracklovr]

Hi Eriks,
Welcome. That is a very nice shot thanks for sharing it.

Getting the camera to focus just past those twigs in front of the hawks is very good.
I say this because I have so many shots of perfectly focused twigs, haha

[CaraRose]

Hi Eriks,
Welcome. That is a very nice shot thanks for sharing it.

Getting the camera to focus just past those twigs in front of the hawks is very good.
I say this because I have so many shots of perfectly focused twigs, haha

With a lovely blurred bird (or other subject) behind them? I have a whole library of those

[EriksCanon]

Thank you everyone! Actually, again today when I got home from class I ran outside to freeze some more and then out of nowhere the same Cooper's Hawk, or a Sharp-Shinned Hawk came up and sat in a tree and I got him perched and flying away! So, I got some luck!

But really thank you for the comments! Im starting to become a huge birder and I just love it!

And to Singletracklovr, the twigs were a massive problem! Everyone hates the extenders but even my 300 2.8 IS isn't long enough and with the 1.4 it's great. But the twigs with that set-up were horrible I MADE SURE I got the shot by switching to manual focus and auto and different meterings and alot of the pictures were a little soft because of the damn branches! I wanted to move to get a clearer shot, but was frozen haha.

[paulnj]

I am not to sure your "teacher" is correct. many resident cooper's hawks in the states never leave and young ones have a tendency to stay if the food source is plentiful.

Very nice image!

[Loupey]

Welcome to the cold/lonely/boring world of nature photography

[armando_m]

Erik,
Outstanding shot !!! thanks for sharing it

Hi Eriks,
Welcome. That is a very nice shot thanks for sharing it.

Getting the camera to focus just past those twigs in front of the hawks is very good.
I say this because I have so many shots of perfectly focused twigs, haha

I was just thinking the same! Autofocus systems can make me lazy