King Vulture

[Doug Brown]

The King Vulture is such an incredible bird! It stands head and shoulders above the more common Black Vulture, and the reds and oranges on its head look fantastic. I photographed this one during my Costa Rica workshop earlier this year.

Nikon D5, Nikon 200-500mm @ 450mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held in a sweaty hide

177822

[John Mack]

I can see why they call it king vulture. Neat colors on the bird. Like the plants on the perch. You can post bigger on here.

[Tim Foltz]

Doug, great colors, pose, BG, HA and perch on this one, there's even tillandsias.

-Tim

[arash_hazeghi]

Sweet shot Doug! love the pose, the perch and the BG, not to mention a rare specie. I hope I can eventually join you in one of these trips...

TFS

[Dorian Anderson]

This looks really nice. Great color and detail, he really pops on the green BG. The perch is fantastic. Only wish for a bit more room behind/left.

[Mike Poole]

Fantastic looking bird, showing loads of detail in this frame and a great perch. No nits from me

Mike

[annmpacheco]

Mighty fine Doug, good to see you posting. Happy Birthday the other day! Bird, perch, framing, perfecto!

[Isaac Grant]

The bird is super cool as is the perch and background. Hard for me to tell details as it is posted so small but from what I can see there doesn't seem to be a ton of fine feather details on the back and head. But that may be a function of the small size or the distance from the bird. I agree with Dorian that I wish there was more room to the left. Also the shot seems a touch dark to me.

[Bill Dix]

Handsome bird, perfect pose, and the curved perch makes for a nice comp. Might lift the shadows just a bit, but it's a handsome frame.

[Paul Burdett]

That's worth the trip to Costa Rica! Great looking bird! Yes..wish you had posted bigger.

[Doug Brown]

You asked for it...you got it. Here's a larger version with the darks brought up a bit.

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[Bill Dix]

Spectacular! Thanks, Doug.

[gail bisson]

Woah Doug...This is wonderful.
I love, love the perch with the wonderful curves in it and that little plant is to die for.
The HA is perfect and the repost addresses my only issue with the OP which was that image was a little dark.
Blacks and whites look awesome and I love the little hairs on top of the head.
A winner for sure,
gail

[David Salem]

The repost is Perfect!! Very nice Douglas!! Should look great on "The Frame":w3

[Walker Noe]

Wow, this is quite simply a dream image. Incredible species, pose, perch, light, everything.