Pelican Banditry 2

Gallery: AvianPosted November 26, 2013237 views6 comments

November 24, 2013 El Dorado Park Lakes, Long Beach, California
This is the second in a series of shots where a flock of White Pelicans attempt to take a trout from a Double-crested Cormorant as he emerged with a fish in his mouth. This photo shows one primary aggressor, but there was a crowd behind him in this frantic action that took only a few seconds start to finish.

Nikon D-4 Nikkor 600mm 1.4TC 850mm ISO400 1/2000 f/10 White Balance Auto Cropped and processed in NIK, CS6 and Lightroom. Shot with a tripod and Wimberley Gimbal.

Comments welcome

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on November 26, 2013 at 10:53 AM

Excellent stop action, you've captured the drama of the moment famously Patrick!
Love the look in the pelicans eye, and that wide-open beak.
I tried a CCW rotation of 1.5 degrees, and a 5:7 crop that brings this to level if you have the pixels.

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on November 26, 2013 at 1:22 PM

A great moment here, but I think I prefer the first composition. Though I understand leaving the entire wing in the frame, the left half of the image seems empty and I completely ignore it. I'd be tempted to actually crop vertically here just to hone in on the real action.

Howard's rotation suggestion is a good one, if it's possible.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Strickland on November 26, 2013 at 6:45 PM

Excellent action photo. I like how you captured the very aggressive pelican. Excellent capture

Registered on January 16, 2005, 96 Posts, 72 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on November 26, 2013 at 10:41 PM

Beautiful close-up of the action, Patrick. Excellent exposure and the wide open beak of the Pelican is great.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 27, 2013 at 3:12 AM

Great detail once again Patrick

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on November 27, 2013 at 12:23 PM

Too Cool Patrick,
Right place, Right time, the detail you managed with this much action is truly amazing.
Well Done . . .

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments