A beautiful series of these fighting birds of prey, good light, sharpness and colors , ciao Giangiorgio

Grazie mille Giangiorgio! I always wanted shots like this for many years and yesterday I got lucky enough to catch them. These birds (for some reason) does not seem to be afraid of human or ?? much. The light color bird got the Gopher and then the dark color bird came and took the Gopher. After eating the Gopher, the dark color Hawk just sit there and does not care much when I walked within 3 feet (1 meter) to collect my equipment. Later, he flew up and perch on the fence and when a dog come running, barking right below does not scare him either.

Hi TmJ,

 

this is a stunning shot! You are reviving your 'old' equipment in a wonderful way, congratulations! The posture of the birds has been captured very well. Kind regards, Vincent

Thanks Vincent! I have to confess that I don't see much when I shoot this. It happens so fast and I know there is some action and I keep snapping away and try to keep focus on the bird. Only afterward that I realize the dark bird had came in and fought with the light color bird. As you know the 7D II shoot at around 10fps and I got around 8 frames which means the duration of all this is less than 1 second. I always wanted this type of shot because I've seen the quality of how it would be when you shoot almost fullframe with good light using the 500mm F4. I was trying to use the Olympus to shoot so that I can compare but unfortunately I had left the lens at home. I am sure the quality is just as good with the Olympus 100-400mm lens (may be the bokeh is not as creamy though). The image make me think of a thug who would grab a person's chest and demand the wallet, LOL! One more thing, actually, if I had shot this with the Olympus it might even be better since the Oly's frame rate is 18fps and that means I probably catch much more interaction. This type of shot does not need fast focusing.