I’ve wondered where you find your many great subjects. Do you head down state this week for Woodward Dream Cruise or Flint’s Back to the Bricks? Will we see some more great photos from there?

Beautiful picture!
I believe this past Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning they had videos of eagles in your area and I remember thinking that is where Regis gets his awesome eagle photos!

Great shots! Yeah I haven’t seen any birds on nests yet in the Saginaw area so I was sure you were probably in Florida. Last shot especially sharp considering you probably cropped it. Thanks for posting!

I wanted to get my two cents in and love pictures of these birds and subsequent discussions of what we are looking at. My understanding is that mature birds can be distinguished by two main differences. First the head which on a Coopers Hawk the dark feathers form a cap while on a Sharpie the dark feathers go down the back of the neck or nape. Can’t see that here but the second is the tail with the Coopers having a rounded tail and the Sharpie a squared off look which this one appears to have. IMO I agree that this appears to be a female Sharpie.

Good sharp photos! I have Cooper’s and Sharpies frequent my neighborhood and especially have trouble telling the immatures apart.

Always makes my day just to see an eagle let alone get great pics of two. Well done!!

Great pictures! I love that you included the freighter in #2, for me a sure sign of the Great Lakes area!

Great shots!! Any of the lower falls? While not as “spectacular “ they are beautiful as well and worth the extra effort.

Your photos are always so sharp! Great set!

Awesome shots as usual!! Love the “scene” you can see when zooming in on the eye of the hawk.
Just wondering, by no means questioning your abilities as a photographer and in editing, but how much credit do you give that camera? I’m familiar with the lens but what other camera do/did you previously use? Great work!

Great action in #2 but I prefer #1. I was wondering how you got that close to a Redtail to begin with!

Very sharp focus!! Great job. I was just playing with my own photo of two next to a nest but about 400ft away and by the time I cropped it it just appeared soft, especially compared to yours. But I love it and seeing these just challenges me more to try to equal it. Thanks for posting!

I’m not sure about your question so let me answer it this way. Be sure to check member Gene51 and his link concerning the method for calibrating a lens. While the dock does update software which can improve some areas how the lens operates it does not do the work of calibrating the lens. You have to test the lens as the link shows. Using my Canon camera and going on the menu to find the AF micro adjustment screen I found the scale allowing adjustments of 0 to +20 or -20. My test shots for 600mm at 50ft were showing sharpest at just behind the bullseye or backfocusing. I took further test shots at -15, -10, and -5 and felt -5 was best. Actually tried to narrow it down more at -2, -8 and again -5 but left it at the -5. Instead of making that adjustment in camera, where it then has the lens move the focus point slightly back toward the camera but does that at all focal ranges and distances for that lens, I made the adjustment only for the 600mm and 400mm which my test shots also showed the same back focus. To be precise you would have to do test shots at each of the four distances for each of the four focal lengths.
When I first got the dock the instructions were vague and I had thought the software in the dock somehow read any errors in focus and made the adjustment. But no such luck. It’s a lot of work to do it properly and I took some shortcuts checking only one distance for the three focal lengths, 400mm, 250mm and 150mm. The dock allowed me to adjust the longer focal lengths my tests showed were off yet keep the same factory points for the shorter lengths that I felt were ok.

I recently made some adjustments using the dock. I felt at the higher focal lengths, 400mm to 600mm, which is usually where I have it set, it was slightly back focusing. I did take test shots for these focal lengths at the four distances and reset all at -5. However, at 150mm and 250mm I tested at just one distance and thought it was fine at 0. I was concerned about 500mm since I always read to try to back off the maximum focal length with a zoom for best results and wondering if the software would make the adjustment or leave it at the factory setting. I was told by Sigma the software is designed to make adjustments for those focal lengths that fall in between the ones you do adjust. My test shots seemed to show that and I am happy for now but need to get out for actual use. Of course the alternative was to make the adjustment in camera which would have affected all focal lengths.
I’ve read that to send the lens back for adjustment they often want the camera as well for correct adjusting. So I’m happy for now.

Great photos, but yes I love any that have raptors, especially eagles, in them. I too was wondering how far your subject was as Regis always seems to be 125-150 ft from his. I have nests available to try to capture photos on the other side of the state- Saginaw-and most are at least 300-500 ft. Cropping always seems to leave them somewhat short of sharp but I believe yours are very sharp. Did you use the TC? Tripod? Happy shooting!