Pacific Baza

[Ironwood]

AKA Crested Hawk. I have seen these around my place from time to time, but have never been able to photograph them, as they usually don't hang around for long.
Today I got the chance, there were 2 of them, but by the time I got back outside with my camera, one of them had taken off, I got a few shots of the one that stuck around thankfully.

Nikon D7100, Tamron 150-600, Better Beamer for a bit of fill light. All cropped a bit.

#1


#2


#3

[Grumpy John]

All good images Brad, #1 is my choice.

[Ironwood]

Cheers John, I agree #1 is the better image. I had to crop it square, because in the bottom rh corner there was a leaf that was closer to the camera and the flash turned it into a big white blotch, so without a lot of work this seemed to be the best way to save the shot.

[seaslug]

I’ve not seen one of those Brad. Thanks for sharing.

[Ironwood]

Cheers Greg. They are a Qld and NT resident so you will have to hope you will see one while on holidays up this way

[Toddyh]

#1 for me too Brad. Nicely done.

[Ironwood]

Thanks Todd.

[wigz]

Well done Brad. #1 is my pick. Good pose, framing and it looks sharp. Background is a little busy but not intrusive.

You have done well with the exposure against the bright background in #2 and #3 .

It's a pity it was so high.

I saw these a couple of times at our place probably 30 years ago but haven't seen one anyowhere since.

[Ironwood]

Well done Brad. #1 is my pick. Good pose, framing and it looks sharp. Background is a little busy but not intrusive.

You have done well with the exposure against the bright background in #2 and #3 .

It's a pity it was so high.

I saw these a couple of times at our place probably 30 years ago but haven't seen one anyowhere since.

Thanks Alan.
See the comment to Johns post regarding the reason for the square crop on this one, unfortunately I had to crop a fair bit off, but it might have helped anyway.

Yes 2 & 3 I was shooting up at a fair angle because the bird was going higher with every move, certainly makes it hard to get an acceptable image.

I was reading that these birds mainly feed on Green Tree Frogs, with the decline in Frog numbers maybe the Bazas have had to move on from some areas.

[Isac]

#1 Ironwood. Lovely shot. It has a great upright look that says "I'm the Boss!! Pretty good separation from the trees and I rather like the angle of #3 for something a bit different to the norm. With bird shots, it's how we see them, so well done.

[Ironwood]

#1 Ironwood. Lovely shot. It has a great upright look that says "I'm the Boss!! Pretty good separation from the trees and I rather like the angle of #3 for something a bit different to the norm. With bird shots, it's how we see them, so well done.

Cheers Isac, yeah #1 is the pick of the bunch, Pity I had to crop it so much though.
I added #2 because it showed the crest better than #1, I knew it was a weak shot because of the branches, but wanted to show the crest.
I was drawn to #3 because it was different to what you normally see, it is missing something, not quite there to make it a great shot, but I am happy that I got it all the same, because it has taken me so long to finally get a few shots of one of these birds, and I may not get another chance.
I have been living here for 14 years now, I reckon I have sighted them about 5 times in that time, so definitely not a common sighting.

[Isac]

Thanks for that Ironwood, appreciated. Seems like a rare sighting for these birds. Gotta take what you can get.