Peregrine Falcon mid-air food transfer

[John Chardine]

I've been photographing at a local Peregrine Falcon nest which is located in a natural setting. One chick remains in the nest and is being fed by the female. The male hunts for birds and returns every few hours to the vicinity of the nest. Then in about 5 seconds the female starts calling, leaves the nest and flies up and under the male, who releases the food item to her. It all happens so quickly that photography is about the only way to see what actually happens.

The birds are pretty small in the frame so I had to crop more than I like (next time I might try the 500mm but I don't fancy my chances!). I dodged the eye areas a little to bring out some detail, then sharpened.


Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM, @ 400 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/2000s, f/5.6

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent interaction captured very nicely, John.

[Vishnu Reddy]

Great action shot and technically very challenging given the bright background. I think you did a good job in post processing. I have been experimenting with exposure compensation for birds against bright background and that has helped a lot to get good shots in the field.

Mahalo
Vishnu

[vishaljadhav]

I like the interaction captured
image is sharp
thanks for giving us your observation , it adds to our knowledge

[Diane Miller]

I've been trying to shoot white-tailed kites doing this. Frustrating to get them into good light and close enough. Great catch!

I didn't realize the wing and tail coloration was so different in the males and females, or is it just glare off the feathers?

[John Chardine]

Thanks all. Yes Diane, it's glare.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great job capturing this action. Sweet.:cheers:

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Great action and glad you have the chance to follow on this nest/couple! I find image quality fine and hope to see more of these birds.

[Richard Unsworth]

Great frame, the detail is very nice indeed. The timing and coordination shown here is extraordinary.

[christopher galeski]

nice action you have captured here,not easy,I have been trying the last couple of weeks to get a shot like this with my local peregrines,but not yet.well done.

[Bill Dix]

Quite amazing. Congratulations on capturing this interaction, and getting it sharp. I wonder what adding just a few points of black would do? Wish I had a local peregrine pair, but I'm happy to enjoy them vicariously.

[John Chardine]

Thanks Bill and everyone. I will try a black adjustment but I am not sure how much darker the "darks" can get before I lose detail. This is what the histogram looks like for the subjects (excluding BG). There could be some room on the left.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Remarkable shot, John! A real joy to look at. Action very well captured.

Best wishes,
Gerald

[Satish Ranadive]

Wonderful action packed image.Very nice poses and composition.Regards,Satish.

[PhilCook]

Great action scene, great thing to witness I'm sure. A little hazy looking i think and the blacks are showing a slight mauve tone, maybe a touch more contrast

[John Chardine]

Thanks again all!

Phil- the Canon 400DO is a lower contrast lens and really shows this when pointed toward a bright source of light like the sky here. I think Bill's comment about adding some black is another way of saying what you said. Will definitely look into this. Agree also with the colour tone of the greys- they should be a blue-grey. Will work on repost.

[John Chardine]

Here's a repost from the RAW file. I must say when you get into colour balance it can be a minefield! Comparing back and forth between two images and neither look right. I tried using the eye dropper to pick up a neutral tone in ACR but that very definitely dod not work.

In the end I added a few blackpoints with the lefthand slider in Levels (there was room) and adjusted colour balance by eye in LAB colour space to approximate the Birds of North America description of the upper parts- "Upperparts variably dark bluish gray, toward slaty".

If you just jump to the the repost it will initially look too green, to my eyes at least, but then you get used to it after a few seconds. Therein lies one of the problems of colour balance perception- our eyes adapt so you have a moving target.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Amazing interaction nicely captured!
The light and shooting conditions weren't in your favour but I think it takes some doing just documenting this.
I do like the repost better, John.