Hanky Panky

[Doug Brown]

I visited a nearby marsh last week, and the Black-necked Stilts seemed to really be enjoying one another! It was a gorgeous morning and the water was perfectly calm. I shot quite a few frames of copulating Stilts, but this was one of only a handful where I got good eye contact from both the male and the female.

Nikon D850, 600 mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO 640, manual exposure, hand held

[Mike Poole]

Superb in eery way Doug, great timing with the raised wings, and as you say, the eye contact is there from them both. Lovely details and reflection

Mike

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Great 'action' , like the expressions on both birds, good reflection.

The whites on the breasts seem a bit warm, esp. the male.

Wish the water was a bit cleaner around the birds. But, perhaps these are all just bubbles from their activities?

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Hey Randy. I learned something interesting about Stilt courtship when I observed it in calm water that morning. The male makes repeated tight circles around the female and creates all of those bubbles just prior to copulation, almost like he’s marking his territory. I saw this behavior 4 or 5 other times that morning with other birds too. I never noticed it before. I kept the bubbles because they’re part of the story.

[dankearl]

Good explanation Doug, I assumed the spots were just junk in the water and would
have cleaned them up...
Exposure looks good, I would think they are a nightmare in the sun..
Excellent behavior shot.

[Doug Brown]

Here's a photo of the bubble-making behavior. You can see the female in a mating position behind the male.

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Thanks for the explanation. I made the original comment about cleaning the water, but looked at it again and realized that they appeared to be all bubbles, and only around the birds, and figured there must be more to the story. So thanks for confirming that, and yes, you got to keep them!!

Cheers

Randy

[John Mack]

Looks spot on to me. Like the behavior and the reflection is lovely.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Doug, I really like your second post and prefer it for the following reasons: I like the POV, the action, the blacks have detail, and the eye is lit by the light. Wish she turned her head our way a bit and would like to see more details in the whites under his neck, looks warm there... Also, the bubbles in your second post are well defined without any guess. Nice to see you posting here too.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Doug, I really like your second post and prefer it for the following reasons: I like the POV, the action, the blacks have detail, and the eye is lit by the light. Wish she turned her head our way a bit and would like to see more details in the whites under his neck, looks warm there... Also, the bubbles in your second post are well defined without any guess. Nice to see you posting here too.

Thanks Ann! Good to be back! The second photo was taken this morning, whereas the original image was taken about a week ago. I haven't processed the second image yet, but I'm sure I will.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Excellent Image. I have been trying to photograph the same species with same behavior in UT. Birds were too fat and no luck so far getting good enough shot.

Where was this taken ?

TFS

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

The same behavior pre copulation ritual is observed in American Avocets as well...

[gail bisson]

I much prefer the second post.
IQ is way better and the light is better- adding some nice iridescence to the wing.
The first image doesn't seem to have your usual excellent IQ.
Gail

[Doug Brown]

This shot was taken at a pond a little south of Albuquerque Krishna. The birds get pretty close, and they don't seem to mind my presence.

[arash_hazeghi]

sweet shot Doug, I have seen this behavior before (making bubbles) quite common here too