Brown Goshawk in Flight.

[hotspur]

Went for a walk around a graziers' back paddock this afternoon,Lots of granite boulders,and rough looking iron bark trees.Found a Large scrub tree with lots of shade-well this will do me for a good rest I thought-stayed for nearly an hour-as I rested I noticed this lovely small brown hawk-he seemed to stay in the area-he knew I was there,I tried a few photos.When I saw this image on back of screen,I moved on as not to disturb him.As I left I noticed a large nest,so it appears these hawks are nesting I could hear chicks,great to see.

Hope this image may be of interest.Cheers Chris

[Derek Klepp]

Another nice Raptor shot Chris. I always have to do a second take on these as we also have the collared sparrowhawk in the same vicinity. No mistaking it with that tail shot though.
Derek

[leon]

Nice effort Chris, that lens certainly is earning its keep, well done mate.

Leon

[hotspur]

Thanks Leon and Derek.

Yes,Derek-the tail of those two species is a good point on which to ID them.

Had a lot of luck with the image-there was blue sky!! very rare here in S.E QLD.

Here is another image of him hunting and ambushing prey,he darts about the tree tops to capture small birds.I have also attached another PP of the first image-I put the image into 'noiseworks' to reduce noise,it seems to make in smoother-but some of the colour looks a tad faded.Be interested to hear which is preferred.

cheers Chris

[Derek Klepp]

Chris I prefer the first one.I am actually contemplating getting a larger lense for my 450D . I was thinking of a zoom but that may not be the way to go. Due to my work(Apiarist) I am often in the right place for good pics but always minus the camera. I would appreciate your opinion onb this.
Derek

[hotspur]

Thanks for your view point on the two images Derek.

With regard to a long focal length lens,I use the Canon 400 L prime lens.I have used it on the 450D before I got the 50D,the 450D is a great camera,with the 400L prime-very light.I do like the 50D now as it has 6 frames per second rate,I rarely use the 6 frames in a second,but I do sometimes take 3 or 4 frames very quickly -as I did with this hawk in flight.

The choice between the 400L and the 100-400L.Well I quickly chose the prime,because I knew I wanted it for birding number one,aircraft at sometimes.The 100-400 L is good,but when at 400 its very long and harder to hand hold on the jobs I do,also its another job bring it to 400 and also put the lens hood on.With the 400 prime the hood slide out,and I am ready.Its lighter than the 100-400.The 100-400 is great for sports action on the field-its better for that than the 400 prime

I am very pleased with it.To most people I would recommend the 100-400,as most a general photographers with no specific menu.But to hard core birding the 400 prime is the way to go.

Apparently its touted as the best BIF (bird in flight) lens that one can buy,even the big guns that have the 500 and 600 still have this 400 for bif.

Just one other point-when things happen quickly in the field,the primes gets the action quicker-no worry of zooming-its just another job that takes time,I used my 70-200 the other day-and wondered what was wrong-I forgot to zoom! I use my 400 that much I forgot!

good luck with whatever you purchase.

[Derek Klepp]

Thanks Chris