Coopers Hawk

I think the ID is right, if not, I stand corrected.

This bird caught me off guard this morning when it landed on my brush pile. The images aren't the greatest, but the best I could do when caught off guard. It was in my wild garden hunting for one of at least 50 house sparrows hanging around the brush pile.

The shots were taken in JPEG with a tripod mounted 50D and EF 100-400 at 400 from 35 feet. Images were cropped about 25% with Picasa3 and tweaked for sharpness, fill light and highlights.

ISO 2000, 1/20 sec @ f/7.1

Any and all comments or clutter fixes are most welcomed.

IMAGE LINK: http://s44.photobucket​.com …/media/IMG_8984​2.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s44.photobucket​.com …/media/IMG_9117​2.jpg.html

They can be extremely fast in and out, I've had them land 4 feet in front of me and never get a shot off. great job

Two very nice captures Jonathan, you did well for not being on guard.

Thank you. I know the miss routine all too well over the past two years when they arrive unannounced at or near that pile. There are three different birds living nearby. I see one out there, on average, about every six weeks. They are fast!

This bird came in three times, 30 seconds apart before circling back to perch and pause. I'm quite sure it nabbed a sparrow in mid-flight on its firs swing through. Between the first and second shot it actually went inside of the brush pile.

Considering the time frame of this session and taking a closer look at those two images, they are not the same bird! Are they both Coopers, or is one possibly a Sharp-shinned?