The cold stare (Accipiter nisus)

This Sparrowhawk sat in the Forsythia in my garden for over an hour last weekend. He had just eaten and spent much of his time preening and resting, all the while keeping a keen eye on what was going on in the rest of the garden. Usually he sits in this shrub briefly before launching himself into the Pyracantha which grows along my garage wall, in an attempt to intimidate the mass of sparrows and dunnocks which roost there into breaking cover. Those that are foolish enough to leave the safety of the dense, prickly shrub are quickly caught and become the next meal. This time around, the Sparrowhawk was content just to sit and listen to the sparrows alarm calls without attacking them.

I hope you like the picture. It was taken using a 500mm f/4.0 lens with stacked 1.4x and 2x extenders. In other words - a long focal length!