Mating avocets

[arash_hazeghi]

American avocets mating in peak breeding plumage

129013

1DX 600II+1.4XIII f/5.6 1/3200sec ISO 500 handheld.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Very very cool image!

[gail bisson]

This is really wonderful.
Great light and IQ and comp.
I really like the HA's and the visible feet of the male. Nice to have a catchlight in both eyes. A nice detail are the water droplets on the female.
I think it needs a tiny bit of CW rotation,
Gail

[Girish Prahalad]

awesome image! wonderful action, light, IQ & exposure.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Stunning image. Spot on exposure, fine detail and wonderful comp.:cheers:

[Jeannean Ryman]

Very nice capture of the mating sequence!

[Marina Scarr]

Terrific image, Arash. The light, the colors, the angles and all those waterdrops on the female are just super. Horizon looks right but it's a tricky one.

[shane shacaluga]

Great work Arash!!

Do females of this species have a more pronounced curve on their beaks than the males, or is this just due to the head angle of each bird?

Love the contrast white and orange over blue and the head/beak angle of the female. Really well exposed too!

Thanks for sharing

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

beautiful pose with amazing plumage

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Beautiful. Love the female with the HA and the drops of water on her

[David Salem]

Commented on FM last night on this beautiful shot. Well done Arash!!

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose(s) excellent action and nice colours.

[Richard Unsworth]

Your processing is fantastic

superb moment captured, steady hands at that fl hh

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Arash,

Very nicely captured! Great dof to get both heads in focus (although my intuition would have been to try to shoot at f/8 or higher ... but it looks like you did it just right!)

Were you down low to the ground and handholding? That's a feat in itself!

Miguel

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arash, awesome shot. lots of things need to come together for such a shot. Excellent DOF coverage. Palo Alto Baylands?

[dankearl]

Beautiful shot Arash, since I am pretty sure this was a crop from horizontal, you were either very close or this is a pretty
good sized crop to have this much vertical.
Looks great.

[Frank Schauf]

Great scene and setting you have here.

[arash_hazeghi]

Great work Arash!!

Do females of this species have a more pronounced curve on their beaks than the males, or is this just due to the head angle of each bird?

Love the contrast white and orange over blue and the head/beak angle of the female. Really well exposed too!

Thanks for sharing

that's correct females have the curvier beak

[Satish Ranadive]

Wonderful image.Great moment captured.Every thing is just absolutely superb in the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash,

Very nicely captured! Great dof to get both heads in focus (although my intuition would have been to try to shoot at f/8 or higher ... but it looks like you did it just right!)

Were you down low to the ground and handholding? That's a feat in itself!

Miguel

Thanks Miguel, yes HH while sitting down. not a big deal

[arash_hazeghi]

Kaustubh, this was in Redwood city.

thanks everyone.

[Peter Seidel]

How you get that clarity/sharpness shooting handheld with that big lens (and TC) is beyond me. As others have said, this is a great moment captured. If I changed anything it might be a very slight rotation to level the water.

Pete

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!
This has to be one the best if not the best mating image I have seen of these birds.
Everything is just perfect.
Very well done.