Auckland Is Pipit on sea-lion carcass

[Ian Wilson]

Auckland Island Pipit, a sub-species of the New Zealand Pipit, found in the NZ sub-Antarctic in the Auckland Is group and on Campbell Is. The capture was made in January on Campbell Is. It shows one of a number of pipits attempting to catch blowflies coming and going from the gut cavity of a sea-lion carcass. I have left an oof blowfly in the image near the top of the frame. Note the unusually long back claw. Critical feedback welcome. Thanks for looking.
Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 2x III extender, Gitzo 3532LS, Kirkphoto gimbal.
Av priority, f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 800.
Post processed in Canon DPP: crop, DLO, USM, RAW-tiff. PS Elements: adjust shad/h'lights, tiff-jpeg, output sharpen with USM.

[Karl Egressy]

I wish for a better perch but the bird looks very nice, it has excellent IQ.

[Ian Wilson]

Hi Karl, Thanks for your feedback. This was always going to be a difficult picture to like because of the unsavoury background and context. I have some nice shots of this species with a clean background but they are not so interesting from the point of view of bird behaviour.
Regards, Ian