Sharpy!

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, Cape May, New Jersey

I spent a few hours at Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in Cape May, New Jersey, on Saturday morning. Some good birds and some good photo ops. Probably the best were the two cooperative Sharp-shinned Hawks. One flew within a foot of my head as it chased sparrows through a hedge row and across the path where I was standing to photograph a female cardinal at close range. It perched in a tree above me…partially obscured by twigs, but close. An hour later, just as I was on my way back to the car, this Sharpy flew in from behind me and settled in much better view, if a bit further away. I pushed the Nikon P610 out to 2600mm equivalent using Perfect Image digital zoom for this close portrait. You can see that the Sharpy was totally aware that I was there. 🙂

Nikon P610 as above. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. Below is a full body view shot at 1440mm equivalent (full optical zoom) and cropped slightly for scale.

full body view.

full body view.

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