Feeding Squacco Heron

[Stu Bowie]

Ive been crazy busy at work for weeks on end, so not much time to catch up with my photography. I'm not sure of the food item, but I managed to capture the moment of the feeding behaviour. Taken at a wetlands south of Johannesburg.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 100-400mm @ 250mm
1/2500
F/8.0
ISO 800

Manual exposure
Hand Held

[gail bisson]

Well done Stu!
These squacco herons love to skulk in thick vegetation so congrats on getting him out in the open.
I really like the feeding behavior portrayed.
A bit lower POV would have been nice but I am guessing you could not.
I would clone in the RUC with some vegetation to get rid of that strip of blue at the top. I would not crop it out as that would put you too tight on top of the heron.
IQ of bird looks good.
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Great look at this beautiful heron. nice detail in that silky plumage. Good dynamic pose.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice view of this heron. As Bill commented wonderful silky looking plumage. Techs spot as always. The green on the water looks like much of Florida's wetlands in the summer. Thank you for sharing, Stu.

[John Mack]

Sweet frame. Love the pose on the bird and the prey of course all that green makes the bird stand out.

[Glenn Pure]

Glad you were able to get this in spite of being super-busy. Bird is really pretty and pose is excellent with lovely detail and well-handled processing that is up to your usual high standards. Agree a lower POV would be good but maybe not feasible here. The prey item (or whatever it has in its bill) lifts this and would be interested to know what it had picked up. The pano crop emphasises the elongated look of the bird and works quite well to my eye.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the habitat and the hunting behavior wish we could see the prey better

TFS