The first-order correction to the physical optics (PO) solution for the axial radiation field from parabolic reflector antennas is found. The correction is of order

and is in quadrature with the PO solution. By means of the correction term the accuracy of the PO surface integral is round to be better than

dB on axis, where

is the diameter of the reflector. Thus, the PO solution for the directivity is extremely accurate for commun reflector sizes of several wavelengths

.