Starlings and Peregrine

Starlings Sturnus vulgaris and Peregrine Falco peregrinus

EOS 20D, EF300/4L IS, Benbo tripod, 1/180, f4, ISO 400, RAW.
Breezebrowser, levels, USM, full frame.

I've been trying to catch the starlings doing their display for quite some time now. They are either too far away, to low and hidden by trees or the light is really bad. The light was a bit dull today, but more than acceptable for me.

I think it was the peregrine having a go that forced them higher. One group went so high that they disappeared from sight. The peregrine left empty handed, perhaps he was spoilt for choice

Please feel free to be completely honest with any comments. Thanks

Very very nice.

And having the peregrine with them makes the shot for me

They look very high up aswell.

Definately a shot to be very pleased with Richard, the shape of the Peregrine stands out loads. A bit more turn in the starlings & I think you would of got the shape of a question mark

Well taken

Vince

Hi Richard,

Outstanding

A shot very similar to this walked away with WPOTY award last year so I think you can be very pleased with this one

Regards

Rob

wow great shapes they make,

ive never seen this where do you find it?

Now that's outrageously good.

Tim

Simply stunning shot Richard - that flock shape is brilliant - wish I'd been there running video at the same time

Best Regards

Andy

Sublime!

Hi Richard

An excellent shot. The composition and framing of the flock and the peregrine are spot on.

To me this is better than the similar shot that won the WPOTY recently.

Very well done, a great behavioural image to capture. I would be very, very pleased to have this in my collection. Top notch nature photography.



cheers

Sean

Have you tried this is B&W.

T

There has been some excellent images on here in the last few weeks, but this, to me, is surely the best.
Best wishes
Phil

Really corking shot

i really like it



Paul

Outstanding... have to agree I prefer this to Mr. Presti's version.... wonder what it would look like with a slightly tighter crop?

Great stuff....

just brilliant



Mark

It made me say "wow". Absolutely excellent

A great pic

Love it

For anyone interested, here is a link to the photo that won that award similar to this pic

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4355628.stm

Jack
Reed beds are a favourite roosting place for large flocks of starlings in the winter. You can't miss them when you are there, they can form huge flocks. My picture is of a relatively small one. Here is some info.

Andy
I think you do need video to fully capture their spectacular displays. It can be hard to do it in a single image.

Tom
I've not entered my black & white phase yet . I do try the odd one or two and this one certainly suits B&W. I do find I tend to prefer the colour versions though, especially when an image is so fresh in my mind.

Rob, Sean, PhilH, Paul
I thought of the Manuel Presti WPOTY image as soon as mine came onto the computer screen But then I saw 'my' peregrine was flying away from the flock. I think his has more action to it, with the peregrine attacking and the starlings showing their reaction by the indented shape. Anyway I'm more than happy with mine.

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated.

Absolutely superb! Similar to the WPOTY shot, as has been mentioned, but I actually think this is better, because I think the 'bean' shape of the flock, and the slight separation to the Peregrine is just magical!

How amazing it must be to witness this as it happens, the largest flock of starlings I've seen was about a 10th the size of these and even that was wonderful to see. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to see this for myself. An outstanding photograph, thanks for sharing!

Please feel free to be completely honest with any comments

I will. I love it! Very, very nice indeed.

Sorry to have overlooked it until now.

Blimey!! I'd be so chuffed to have captured this, or even seen this. You've done far more than captured it. A wonderful image

Graeme

W W what a 'stunner'

David

Absolute cracker...as you english say......
Rene de Heer

Hi Richard
great image
John
Aberdeen.

A magilcal experience, well captured

Hi Richard,
Reading all the encouraging comments this sounds like a wonderful image,which unfortunately I can't see for some reason .
I've tried to view it at least a dozen times but all I get is the dreaded red cross each time where your image should appear and also in place of your avatar.
Not sure what's causing this.

Hi Justin,

That's strange. Both the image and my avatar are coming from the same place. I've just checked and the image downloads ok for me. I emptied my browsers cache first.

I've uploaded the image to another server, this one should hopefully work: HERE

Thank you to everyone for the replies!!

Thanks Richard,that's done the trick. (the link)
Well worth waiting for as well,what a superb image,you must be over the moon with this.