howlynn Loc: pueblo west, co

I went to my local golf course to attempt to capture a Coopers hawk nest.
I found the cottonwood tree that their nest was in and two little ones out
on a limb. One of the adult hawks flew past me and landed in a dead tree
about 150ft away. I knew it would fly back to the cottonwood with the
nest, so I waited for it to take-off. I had my D500 with a 300mm PF + 1.4
tele-converter. The hawk took off but didn't fly toward the cottonwood tree,
it flew straight for me. I took a few seconds of shots in burst mode, here are
a few of them.

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Adult Coopers Hawk

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Young Coopers Hawk

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imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Interesting and well done ! ......thanks for sharing

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

OK, I guess I'm going to have to be the bad guy. I have a D500, don't have the 300mm PF. If I had spent the money on that gear and could only get those in flight shots I would be really disappointed. The perched shots are great! What happened to the focus on the in flight shots? Do you use back button focus? What focus mode are you using? I use a Nikon 200mm-500mm on my D500 and I can almost always nail focus in motion. Trying not to be harsh.

howlynn Loc: pueblo west, co

Thank you Larry for taking a look.

howlynn Loc: pueblo west, co

Here were my settings. SS-1,600; F/6.3; ISO-800; BBF, AF-C GRP.
I was disappointed. Thank you for your help.

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

I do a lot of BIF and the main issue that comes up when the subject surprises you by flying off and towards you as opposed to off to the side is related to keeping focus on the bird. I find it easier to predict and pan sidewards trajectories than an incoming trajectory. The closer the subject the faster the angle change may be. Since the subject was in a tree the OP may have been using the center spot, thus making it harder to acquire/stay on the moving target.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

After I commented I was thinking that with a hawk (fast flyer) coming toward you could just be flying too fast for the auto focus to track. It looks like the focus is off about the same for each frame so maybe the auto focus just couldn't catch up?? Yeah if the camera was in center spot it would have been hard to track a fast moving object too. Unfortunately those things happen so fast that the photographer may not be able to catch up either.

Heather Iles Loc: UK, Somerset

Perhaps you would let us know what would you have done in those circumstances. What setting would you have used?

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Well, as I said these things happen so fast that you might not have enough time to make any adjustments. I have to admit, I've never had a bird fly straight at me like that. The only thing you can really do is be set up for the conditions that you are in or expect to be in as far as light levels, a rough idea of the distance that you expect the subject to be at for zone focus setting.
I think the OP had good basic settings and they would have worked well under most conditions. If you want to know what I would have done in that exact situation? I probably would have missed the focus and sat down on a rock or stump and cussed myself out for missing a great opportunity for some great photographs and hope for another chance.. No body gets them all, every time. That's wildlife photography.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Nice sequence I love that last one where, I think, he was sharing his feelings about having his picture taken