The Textures of Death.. ...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of the water dishes in my backyard. This one has been showing up when I am looking 3-4 days a week this last month.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of the water dishes in my backyard.
This one has been showing up when I am looking 3-4 days a week this last month. The way the bird acts, I would say it is young, barely old enough to have the adult patterns.
I couldn't decide on the closeup for the textures of the feathers or less crop to show the setting and the textures of the block wall and water dish.

Canon R7, RF 100-400 @ 400, 1/400 @ f/8.0, ISO-3200
w/tripod at about 50', cloudy bright late afternoon in open shade just before sunset 9-25-22 6:09PM

(Download)

anotherview Loc: California

I like the first one. It simplifies the subject and does it justice. Great capture. The bird bangs out. Thanks for sharing.

robertjerl wrote:

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of th... (show quote)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

anotherview wrote:

I like the first one. It simplifies the subject and does it justice. Great capture. The bird bangs out. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much.

jessandcheryl

I used to have a beautiful flock of white homing pigeons, and some wonderful banty chickens. A couple of these guys moved in, and I had none after only a month. They are beautiful, but they are also deadly.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

jessandcheryl wrote:

I used to have a beautiful flock of white homing pigeons, and some wonderful banty chickens. A couple of these guys moved in, and I had none after only a month. They are beautiful, but they are also deadly.

The Cooper's preferred prey is smaller birds.

They are one of the reasons many people who have pigeons also have a large wire flight cage attached to the coop. On the farm, my Grandfather had small doors on every side of the chicken houses, so they could duck in quickly. And some covered areas (wire fencing over head) for them to be fed under.
Not to mention, the domestic roosters of his preferred breed were huge. They treated the Bantys like the flock's young. Few hawks are big enough or fierce enough to willingly take on one of them in full on "Protect My Flock" mode. The cats avoided them, the dogs made friends with them, and only a full-grown fox or larger animal would hunt them. And the Foxes couldn't get through the spaces in the wire fencing around the chicken yard.

Boris77

robertjerl wrote:

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of th... (show quote)

Good shot but closer crop a bit too tight for me. I would go to top of horizontal mortar joint and a similar distance on the other sides. The mortar might have to be lightened a little.
Background in general is neutral attractive. Never know there was a watering dish.
Boris

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Boris77 wrote:

Good shot but closer crop a bit too tight for me. I would go to top of horizontal mortar joint and a similar distance on the other sides. The mortar might have to be lightened a little.
Background in general is neutral attractive. Never know there was a watering dish.
Boris

Thanks for looking and offering the suggestions.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Beautiful captures. We have Cooper's Hawks that make the rounds of the bird feeders in the neighborhood. They are smart and never over hunt an area. One kill, usually a Mourning Dove, and they move on to another location

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Curmudgeon wrote:

Beautiful captures. We have Cooper's Hawks that make the rounds of the bird feeders in the neighborhood. They are smart and never over hunt an area. One kill, usually a Mourning Dove, and they move on to another location

Same here, There are juveniles almost every summer also.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I would propose both the close crop AND the wider view, but mine would be a much wider, wider view. Not enough difference between the two as posted IMHO. But a very nice photo!

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

robertjerl wrote:

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of th... (show quote)

#1 is my favorite, shows off so well

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

robertjerl wrote:

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of th... (show quote)

Excellent images Robert.

srsincary Loc: Cary, NC

robertjerl wrote:

...In the feathers of a Cooper's Hawk at one of th... (show quote)

Great captures.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Retired CPO wrote:

I would propose both the close crop AND the wider view, but mine would be a much wider, wider view. Not enough difference between the two as posted IMHO. But a very nice photo!

This is what I started with

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

junglejim1949 wrote:

#1 is my favorite, shows off so well

Thanks you