Red Kite joins his brother

[Gerald Kelberg]

These Red Kites (Milvus milvus) would perch then swoop down and try to steal scraps of bait from other raptors. Their speed and manoeuvrability are awesome, as well as being very beautiful raptors. This shot was taken in central Spain in March 2022, from a hide, shooting through glass. What I particularly like about this image is the display of the back of the landing bird. I think both birds were young adults from the previous breeding season.

Taken with my Sony A9II with the FE200-600 at 422mm. Shutter at 1/1600 sec, F/6.3 at ISO 3200. PP in LightRoom using NR Enhance then resized and sharpened in PS. Part of branch removed to improve the composition.

Comments and suggestions much appreciated.

Gerald

PS. Seems a little soft now that I upload it!

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think the bird on the left is pretty sharp, the one on the right perhaps just a little soft.. You were fortunate to get the one on the left sharp, the camera could have easily decided to search for the one on the right!
Colours look good, .....maybe a slight lift in the darker tones?

[William Dickson]

I can't see much difference in the sharpness. I would trying sharpening both just a little more. Maybe a little warmer on the image. Great pose on the bird to our right, it appears a little too dark. Great perch and BG. One of my favourite birds to photograph.

Will

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald ... this has kind of fun factor for me , as the left one is looking , with question mark in his face , what the heck are you doing ??? :bg3: Showing off the wings ... or what ?? :t3

I do like it overall , well captured with the balanced comp .Sky looks very nice with the clouds and the blue not being too uniform !!!

I would say it does need more sharpening ...

Nice work Gerald and TFS Andreas

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fun image indeed. Birds looking away do not very often work, but it does here. I like the asymmetrical wing positions as it adds interest IMO. I agree that a touch more sharpening, to both birds, would be good for web posting.