With a second look it appeared very much like a male Sparrowhawk, not as colourful as the female, but the mentioned contrast problem gave me doubts. Do you have Sparrowhawks over in San Jose?
John ---------- Original Message ----------- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:30:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Anyone identify this fellow? > Sorry - I forgot to give the location. > > I'm in San Jose, California. > > My guess, based on spotting him a few days earlier, > is that it might have been a sharp-shinned hawk. > But sparrowhawk would be a reasonable guess, too; > it seemed to be going after sparrow-sized birds in > the bushes at the back of the garden. > > John Whittingham mused: > > > > Sparrow hawk? Kestrel? Hard to tell from that angle, some are foreigners, > > spend the winter in the UK. > > > > John > > > > > > > > ---------- Original Message ----------- > > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: [email protected] (Pentax List) > > Sent: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 18:00:23 -0500 (EST) > > Subject: Anyone identify this fellow? > > > > > I stepped out of the front door the day after Christmas, > > > and I spotted this fellow sitting in a tree in the front yard: > > > > > > <http://www.panix.com/~johnf/temp/YardHawk.jpg> > > > > > > It's not the greatest of shots - that's cropped significantly > > > from an original handheld with the 80-320 at maximum zoom, and > > > so there's visible camera shake (and a fairly extreme contrast > > > range for the *ist-D to try to cope with, as well). > > > But it should be good enough to identify the subject. > > > > > > (It also let me check out the Christmas goodies; the grip > > > and vertical shutter release worked just fine, and the RAW > > > conversion was done using PhotoShop Elements 3.0) > > ------- End of Original Message ------- > > ------- End of Original Message -------
