Hawks of Cape May

[Scottes]

The day was going miserable - no birds. We went back to the Hawk Watch platform to hope and pray for some raptors to fly overhead. The day before they saw something like 314 Peregrines and 142 of some other and 131 of another and well over 1,000 for the day.

Plus they were going to do a hawk banding demo, so we couldn't lose.


Well we were there for 2 hours and didn't see a single raptor.

Not one.

THEN we overhead someone say that he wasn't going to do the hawk banding demo.

I looked up at CDS with tears welling in my eyes and he just said "I heard."

It was quite a depressing morning.


But low and behold we were saved because they just weren't doing *banding* but were bringing out the hawks for a demo.

Woo-Hoo!


Here's a couple shots.

http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/CoopersHawk_53215.jpg
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/NorthernHarrier_53230.jpg


Later, nearing sunset, we headed back to the beach to catch the sunset.

And CDS saw a hawk on a telephone pole. We chased... And I'm going to let CDS tell this story when he posts his shots, as I got only a couple decent shots, and I know he got some great ones.

So here's my shot: "Hawk On A Telephone Post On Main Street"

http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Hawk_53376.jpg

[LazyPhotographer]

You know I love Hawks... and these are some of the best shots I've seen. I'm incredibly jealous.

[BigMikey]

Wonderful work on capturing these hawk shots!

[cmM]

woooooow :shock: :shock: :shock:

That first shot :shock: :shock:

[ssim]

Man these ones take my breath away.

Absolutley stunning.

[Chris1le]

Awesome shots! I can't believe how sharp they are. :shock:

[IanD]

Excellent captures Scott. #1 shows increadable detail.

[Eastcoast]

The "Agony and the Ecstasy" :lol: :lol:

The detail is incredible. I bet if you enlarge the first ones you can see the photographers in the reflections in the birds eyes. :mrgreen:

Glad that you managed to get these to share with us.

[marie]

:shock: woo hoo :shock:

great shots 8) 8) 8)

[PacAce]

Cool! :shock: Can hardly wait to see CDS's shots. :)

[Scottes]

The detail is incredible. I bet if you enlarge the first ones you can see the photographers in the reflections in the birds eyes.


http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/CoopersHawk_53215-eye.jpg

Well you can certainly see people, and it looks like the guy in the middle is holding an L... yep, looks like a 100-400. Also note how I skillfully placed the horizon line directly across the middle of the hawk's eye in order to achieve a perfect catchlight.

:wink:

[HJMinard]

Scottes - I never cease to be impressed by your work. Outstanding.

Just curious ... what aperature did you use for the first two shots? Wide open?

[tofuboy]

The detail is incredible. I bet if you enlarge the first ones you can see the photographers in the reflections in the birds eyes.

Well you can certainly see people, and it looks like the guy in the middle is holding an L... yep, looks like a 100-400. Also note how I skillfully placed the horizon line directly across the middle of the hawk's eye in order to achieve a perfect catchlight.

:wink:

I aspire to become a photographer where I cover the details of the image all the way down to the reflected horizon line in a birds eye ^_^

Very nice photographs :)

[Belmondo]

The photo reflects well on you. :wink:

Masterful. :!: :!:

[Scottes]

Thanks Jay.

Yes, they were all wide open. For birds, 95-97% of the time it's wide open. I do enjoy those rare moments when I get to go to f/11 and still retain a decent shutter speed. Alas, I hate noise, so I shoot at the lowest ISO possible, so it's tough.

I'm dreaming of the day when Canon makes a DSLR that's completely noise-free at ISO 800. Give it a 2x or even 3x crop factor and get it up to about 16 megapixels and keep it under $10,000 and I'll be just a little ecstatic.

[Scottes]

I aspire to become a photographer where I cover the details of the image all the way down to the reflected horizon line in a birds eye ^_^

Sorry if it wasn't obvious enough but I was being quite a smart aleck. It was pure luck, believe me!

That said, I have the same aspiration!

[roanjohn]

WOW!!! :shock: :shock: :D

Ninja birder strikes again!!!

Excellent, excellent shots!!! The exposure, the sharpness, the expression........all great!!!

Ro1

[tofuboy]

I aspire to become a photographer where I cover the details of the image all the way down to the reflected horizon line in a birds eye ^_^

Sorry if it wasn't obvious enough but I was being quite a smart aleck. It was pure luck, believe me!

That said, I have the same aspiration!

I was being a bit of the same :p Words just can't express those 'expressions' Which is a good reason this is a photography forum, we can let our photos do the talking...

[Tiger1]

:D Ninja :)

Every time I look at your great photography, it makes me go out and work harder; I'm about to wear myself out.

These shots are great, but the hawk on the telephone pole is truly outstanding :!: :!: :!:

Oops, I see some birds, well, here I go again #@*-*# :D

Gene