Bareback Ride

Gallery: AvianPosted May 30, 201656 views4 comments

Cattle Egrets

I hate that part of the lower bird's wing got clipped off, but things were moving pretty fast and I was on a tripod. These two males were fighting over a nesting site. The birds were almost completely shaded, so the scene is flatter than I would have liked. This fight went all the way down into the water. If any of the other frames look okay, I may post another.

Taken at Rip's Rookery near Delcambre, Louisiana, in mid 2015.

D7200, tripod.
1/800, f/6.3
ISO 160
T150-600mm @400mm
Cropped to 8.7MP before resizing.
Adjustment to exposure and contrast with slight sharpening.

Comments welcomed.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on May 31, 2016 at 7:37 AM

Great behavioral image. These fights are hard to get a good angle on, as one or the other (or both) birds are rarely in ideal position.
Still, a great catch!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on May 31, 2016 at 1:45 PM

A good capture of what looks to be a pretty ugly territorial fight. It is a shame about the wing but, as you say, stuff happens very quickly in these kinds of territorial fights.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on May 31, 2016 at 2:10 PM

Hi Raoul,

I'm sure this action went down pretty quickly and it's a bummer about the clipped wing. But it is still a cool image. It looks like you may be able to increase exposure or bring up the whites some. It appears just a bit dark to me. Got any more...?

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on May 31, 2016 at 5:57 PM

Great action, Raoul. While the clipped wing is a bummer, it's far from a show stopper. To my eye, it looks like you have a slight color cast showing in the shaded areas of the wings. I think you could bring the exposure of the shaded areas up a bit too. Last nit: The bright oof twig sticking into the bottom of the frame could stand to go. The action in this one makes it worth cquite a bit of careful processing in my opinion.

devil

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