Long-Tailed Jaeger Closup

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Photographed yesterday evening at the SF Bay Ntl. Wildlife Refuge in Alviso, CA. This Jaeger kept patrolling the edge of a salt pond and came at times incredibly close. This frame is uncropped. Would you expand it to give the bird more room?

Thanks for looking. JR

Canon 40D, 400F5.6, 1/1600s, F6.3, ISO-400, Manual Exposure, Handheld

[Alfred Forns]

I'm fine the way it is John Maybe a tad by the tail

Excellent detail and do like that bicolor bg. About all I could wish for was a little better sun angle to have the rear of the bird illuminated Sweet !!!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

I agree with Alfred's Comments. Beautiful image and a very striking BG. thanks for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Alfredo. What bugs me is the flat wing position. Not sure how much they flap but either wings full up or full down would have been much better. Sharp with good color and light. A pretty amazing species for the location.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I Iike the bg`s color and the soft light!!!

[Vincent Grafhorst]

What a fabulous BG and great details on the bird too! Maybe not the most ideal wing position, but an awesome image John. I would keep it as is.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for the kind feedback. And to address Artie's question: the only times within a ~1.5 hour span I've seen this Jaeger flap its wings was when it got out of the water or evaded some gulls. Probably less than 10 times total...

Other than that it just glided against and with the wind banking on occassion. Quite remarkable and beautiful actually. And an easy characteristics with which to pick him out of flock of gulls and terns...

The only time I got a shot of its wings underneath was when it briefly hovered before plunging into the water. The image is here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20575

And yes, the local birders are thrilled - kudos to their ID actually. JR