Lemonade

[David Salem]

This is a male Mountain Blue Bird.

Went out to my favorite spot with my friend Glenn a few months ago. On our way out the wind got stronger and stronger by the minute. By the time we got to our location it was howling. We were pretty bummed and thought about throwing in the towel because it was windy enough that birds wouldn't even be able to stand on perches. Being that we are gluttons for punishment, we carried on looking for wildlife. After a while we were rewarded with a great setup .
A recent migrant flock of Mountain Blue Birds was feeding on insects on the edge of a pond. They used the wind to hover stationary, then they would wing over and catch a bug. We had a blast shooting them as they hovered in front of us. The hovering shots were okay but most had shadows. The best shot was trying to time when they would open their wings out of a hover and dive down. We shot hundreds of frames to get a few keepers. This was my favorite.

1DMkIV---700mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH from truck@8:25am---40% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Karl Egressy]

What a great opportunity. Truly beautiful shot, nice banking pose excellent HA and lovely background, David.

[Grace Scalzo]

Sweet - lemonade indeed !

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Excellent pose and head turn. Gorgeous graduated bg. Love your comp. Way to make the most of a situation; that's some sweet lemonade, Dave.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

This is simply superb David, I like the top side / banking view/pose which shows the colors so well, lovely BG and nice HA. Well done and congrats.
Sanjeev

[Bob Serling]

Beautiful shot, Dave, in sweet light. It reminds me of an Alan Murphy shot, but having been to that spot, I know that the only "bait" was what was in the air naturally. Great head angle on this too.

[keith mitchell]

David you certainly made the most of your opportunity just shows that perseverance does pay off, your image is superb !

Keith.:S3:

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent detail and flying pose, nice head turn and eye contact.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Terrific pose & HA with excellent detail & BG. Very well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

David,
Excellent flight pose with beautiful wing spread, colors and BG.

Regards,
Satish.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, great banking angle, and this shows off the feather detail on the wings nicely. Love the blues. Sweet BG too. A well thought out image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, the blue of the bird really is quite striking against the orange BKG. Great timing with the wings outstretched and slight head turn. Is this FF or cropped? Nice work.

TFS
Steve

[Bill Dix]

Great flight position, and love the blue against orange. Looks generally sharp as others have said, but on my screen I'm not seeing quite as much detail in the area of the mantle as in other areas. Maybe just a bit more selective sharpening, or Detail Extractor, there??

[David Salem]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.

Steve, yes this was a moderate crop leaving about 60 percent of the original that you are viewing.

Bill, I will try to sharpen the head a little more. Thanks for the help.

I know its not razor sharp but it is also a 40 percent crop at a moderate distance with a pretty small bird flying fast in the wind. This is not a set up with a full frame shot at 24 millimeters so I was pretty happy with the end result and the BG color.

Thanks as always.

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers David, I think your reply clarifies our thoughts, as you set a very high standard both in content & IQ, still a lovely capture and illustrates your nimbleness in capturing your subjects. You should perhaps think about hiring out that truck, it's a rest asset. :cheers:

[Diane Miller]

This is awesome! It pays to persist. You never know what you'll find, and sometimes adverse conditions turn out to have a good side.

[Holger Leyrer]

Oh man David. This is really great. Stunning pose and wing spread. BG is killer. The eye contact ... WOW.

[Robert Kimbrell]

What a nice shot David, Pose head angle, wing spread, and a lovely background.

[gail bisson]

The pose, colors and wing spread are awesome but the IQ is not up to your usual standard- especially around the head. ( You have set the standard so high for your images that I am forced to be ruthless with you!!:bg3:)
Still, I would be doing a happy dance to get this image!
Gail

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.

Gail, I appreciate you being ruthlessly honest with me. It keeps me on my toes ;) Thanks as always for your input!

[vishaljadhav]

Wow a wonderful image David, i missed it as was not regular for some time
lovely wing position with the superb BG, 60% of original now thats really a big achievement for small birds like this.
very nicely done.

[Rob Melone]

Beautiful majestic capture David!

[Danny Laredo]

Killer flight shot David.