No wonder my bird feed is lasting a long time....

Beautiful shots Ian, so 'sharp'

Eastcoast wrote in post #17136280
Ha, good one Ian.

He's using the bristle brushes as a "boot cleaner" for his talons.

Sweet shot.

Thanks John.

nc_killie wrote in post #17136500
Great capture of the bird, love the colours and sutartion - pity about the perch and background - opportunity for setting up some nice artistic perches!

Yep, will look into that Thanks!

budcam wrote in post #17136755
Ian love the curiosity look of the little fella, and well done.

Thanks Dan, he was looking all over to see what was for dinner. I think his parents have shown him where I am.

Pondrader wrote in post #17136796
Mmm Then I would suggest removing the Brush as its not the best BG

Maybe.....then it would just be the wires, not much better.

Red Dexs wrote in post #17136828
Great eye colours.

Thanks Red.

CMOats wrote in post #17136904
Beautiful shots Ian, so 'sharp'

LOL, I get it! Thanks Cheryl.

Beautiful Sharpy Ian and excellent captures to boot.
It is funny how they'll perch on almost anything when searching for their next meal, but I know for a fact I've never seen them on a bottle brush

As for the wires, I took a little liberty and about 15 minutes in PS so you be the judge......

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …7_c2_zpsf43ade6​a.jpg.html

Absolutely great detail as always, Ian.

As a suggestion, I have had some success after cloning, disguising the resultant lines w/ the smudge tool(W/ the blur and sharpen tools in PS Elements). This will sometimes work w/ blended bg colors such as you have here.
And Steve, you should put together a tutorial on removing unwanted's. Excellent!

CamFan01 wrote in post #17137145
Beautiful Sharpy Ian and excellent captures to boot.
It is funny how they'll perch on almost anything when searching for their next meal, but I know for a fact I've never seen them on a bottle brush

As for the wires, I took a little liberty and about 15 minutes in PS so you be the judge......

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …7_c2_zpsf43ade6​a.jpg.html

Sorry, can't help you with the perch my friend

Wow, that PS work is awesome, Steve I could use a half hour lesson from you! Thanks so much! I only have Photoshop 7, so I' don't know if it has the horsepower to do what you just did. I have yet to spring for a newer version. The brush is an eavestrough leaf prevention tool, if you know what I mean. Either way, great work on the wires. I have since removed the brushes and replaced them with a more carefully placed branch, so we'll see what happens next.

ardeekay wrote in post #17137354
Absolutely great detail as always, Ian.

As a suggestion, I have had some success after cloning, disguising the resultant lines w/ the smudge tool(W/ the blur and sharpen tools in PS Elements). This will sometimes work w/ blended bg colors such as you have here.
And Steve, you should put together a tutorial on removing unwanted's. Excellent!

Thanks for the comments and ideas, Rog.

I am always startled when I witness that moment when the hawk picks a bird off my feeder. I never get used to it. It happens in a flash leaving a cloud of feathers.

Joe Pye wrote in post #17137712
I am always startled when I witness that moment when the hawk picks a bird off my feeder. I never get used to it. It happens in a flash leaving a cloud of feathers.

Yep, same here, they sure are quick. This was a young one I'm sure, and he was all eyes looking around before taking off. There's little piles of feathers all around the feeders right now.

Wallace River wrote in post #17135739
This young guy has been hanging around my feeders....I have seen the results, but today is the first time I've actually seen him drop in to have a look around. The bristle brushes were a misguided attempt on my part to make the feeders squirrel-proof
1.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/p2UN​Gu IMG_5669 Young Sharp Shinned Hawk by Wallace River, on Flickr

The bird: "I laugh at your puny bristles! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!​!!!"

Awesome!

Last time I saw one in my yard he was devouring a sparrow!
I played with the wire in the first one for ya:

photoguy6405 wrote in post #17137743
The bird: "I laugh at your puny bristles! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!​!!!"

Ygah, the squirrels say the same thing

kosin wrote in post #17138196
Awesome!

Thanks much Greg.

ronrobert wrote in post #17138244
Last time I saw one in my yard he was devouring a sparrow!
I played with the wire in the first one for ya:

Wow, you guys are good! Thanks for that Ron. I've had several little piles of feathers out there over the past couple of weeks. I think a grackle, a blue jay, a mourning dove, and who knows what else.

if you can teach him to catch squirrels I'll buy him from you- very nice shots

CaptBob wrote in post #17139397
if you can teach him to catch squirrels I'll buy him from you- very nice shots

If I see him catching squirrels Bob, I'm keeping him! So far they just laugh at him. Thanks for commenting. I made some serious setup changes today, the hawk should like it....will see what happens next.

Very nice shots . Definitely looks like a Sharp Shinned Hawk .

Great shots Ian, I was going to post ideas on clutter removal but Steve was ahead of me