Incoming Cape Gannet.

[Stu Bowie]

Wishing everyone all the very best for 2017. I have just returned from three weeks in the Cape, and the highlight of my holiday was spending three days in Lamberts Bay, which has one of only six Gannet colonies in the world. I was told there are 26500 Gannets on the island. The numbers are made up of breeding pairs, sub adults and chicks. I questioned how they managed to count those numbers, and was told they take an arial photo and then break down the images into one square meter at a time. There is a hide on the island with a sunken viewing area with one way glass, or being a photographer, you can go to the top of the hide and capture the images in the open. Mornings are best with regards to the light, but not ideal due to the angle at which the Gannets return to meet up with their partners, and the direction of the wind will also play a role. The afternoon light is also not ideal, but you take what ever the situation presents itself. As the island is only open to the public from 7.00am, I took advantage of the early light as with this image ( 7.07am )

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +1.4 TC = 420mm
1/2500
F/8.0
ISO 400

Manual exposure
Hand Held

[Bill Dix]

Great incoming look, and I love the dangling feet. Sounds like a good place to visit. Is there a best time of year? Best wishes to you as well, Stu.

[Richard Flack]

Cracker pose Stu, great eye contact and good BG. If anything, it would just be over the top if the IQ was better and we could see more feather detail e.g. on the chest. Thanks and happy new year!

[Joseph Przybyla]

The expression on the birds face and the splayed feet made me chuckle. Lovely image... thank you for sharing.

[Robert Kimbrell]

I like the incoming pose, and even more the dangling feet. He looks as if he is going to land on you. Well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A quirky pose! I like the effect of the side lighting here. Sounds like you had a great time.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful Image.
such a gorgeous Wing position, eye contact.

Thanks for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[annmpacheco]

Love the feet and head on pose! sounds like a wonderful time, shooting away!

[Isaac Grant]

Very nice incoming pose. Excellent sharpness and I love the expression. I think the image needs a little clockwise rotation as the horizon line is higher on the right than on the left. I think I have seen this colony before. Is this the one that is visible from land when standing in Simonstown at the penguin colony?

[David Salem]

Welcome back Stu! This looks great and I love the landing pose with the air brakes down. Nice details and exposure too. Must have been fun seeing thousands of these beautiful bird together. Well done and looking forward to more from your trip.

[Stu Bowie]

Is this the one that is visible from land when standing in Simonstown at the penguin colony?

Thanks Isaac. There are no Gannets in Simonstown. What you see from the Penquin Colony on the large rocks are infact Cormorants. This image was captured in Lamberts Bay - 300km north of Cape Town up the West Coast. If you google - Bird Island Lamberts Bay, it will show up all the details.

[Mike Poole]

Late to the party - sorry!

I love the straight down the barrel look and the dangling feet work well. Good light under the wings which isn't easy with these birds, keep them coming

Mike