"She's Back"

[David Salem]

This is the female Columbarius Merlin that I have been shooting for a few years now. She comes down to the exact same spot in sunny Southern California for the winter to feed on dragonflies.
She probably migrates to Canada to breed and rear young and then flies all the way back down here to feed on this easy prey in the fall.
She started coming here three years ago but due to the flooding we had last winter we didn't see her at all.
I was hoping she would return again and Sunday morning my buddy Glenn and I were stoked to see her back in the same spot hunting dragonflies. I hope she sticks around for a while.

1DX---600mm---f4.5---ISO1600---ss1/320th---Handheld from truck@8:45am---40% crop

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

David

[Tim Foltz]

Dave, nice DOF for shooting at f/4.5, HA, BG and perch are sweet and the prey brings an extra PLUS to the shot.
I'll have to make it out there this year...

-Tim

[David Salem]

Thanks Tim,
I normally don't shoot without my extender to often but the conditions were pretty dark and cloudy and I was trying to keep my ISO as low as possible. I removed my extender to keep the ISO down as low as I could. Notice the 1/320th shutter speed.
Yes I think that luckily the DOF @f4.5 did cover her pretty well.
I think it's going to be a good year this year so you got to get out here. Thanks again.

[Glenn Pure]

Drop-dead gorgeous shot, David. Beautiful bird, pose, perch and background nicely rounded off with an effective composition. The dragonfly is a bonus. Processing is excellent with great detail, tone and colour. Magnificent.

[arash_hazeghi]

wonderful shot Dave, you guys are lucky with this frequent visitor, see you soon buddy!

[William Dickson]

Very nice David. Lovely detail on the bird with a great looking pose. Fab perch as well. The dragonfly prey really takes it over the top, and finished well with a lovely BG. I am wondering why you never upped the ISO to get more SS.

Will

[Isaac Grant]

Oh come on! That pose, perch and head angle and with the dragon fly = not fair!!! Congrats Dave. Just amazing.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you like the frame.
We are exited to have her back.

[David Salem]

Very nice David. Lovely detail on the bird with a great looking pose. Fab perch as well. The dragonfly prey really takes it over the top, and finished well with a lovely BG. I am wondering why you never upped the ISO to get more SS.

Will
Thanks William,
I really like my 1DX and I know you have the same body also but I am really not at happy with anything above 2000 ISO.
Maybe it's because I am fortunate and shoot in the the Sun a lot or the combination of looking at my images on a fairly large sharp monitor. I know you have the same monitor also and I'm sure that you really notice if an image isn't tack sharp or if it has a fair amount of noise in it.
Shooting at 1/320th of a second is a little tricky but I have learned over the years how to try to keep my rig pretty steady and I also over shoot quite a bit because I know I'm going to have some soft images.
Thanks again

[Vaughn Stamm]

Wow! Those talons look razor sharp. Awesome pic; Great job!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, super show off pose with her meal, and nicely in the open too. We have a great view of her talons, and a great result with such a slow SS. Well captured. I would love to be able to see a subject like time and time again.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone