Hawk Cuckoo AKA Brainfever Bird

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Canon 1D Mark III with Canon 500 f/4 + 1.4 X T.C, Handheld

EXIF: 1/25, f/8, Evaluative Metering, Aperture Priority, ISO 2000, EC +1, One Shot AF Mode


Took this at dusk with very little light. Saw this fellow hunting insects and suddenly he flew down and picked up an egg from the grass and came onto a low rock; the cuckoo finally cracked the egg and partly drank its contents. Did not use NR on the image as the noise did not seem much to me.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Wonderful moment, great sharpness and low angle!. I might boost the midtone contrast a tad? Noise control impressive at that ISO.

[Randy Stout]

Great timing, position of bird, love the wide open eye and egg, tells a great story.

The colors in the rock are perfectly complimentary to the birds colors.

Noise pretty good for that ISO!

Agree with Chris about a little more bite (contrast) in the mid tones

Very successful image.

Randy

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Liked the image a lot...and knowledge of the situation made me appreciate it even more. You did one heck of a job exposing this. Agree that little more contrast will add a punch.

KD

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting, and would like to know from what species the egg was from. I like the way he's showing it off. Agree with the others to boost the contrast.

[Lorant Voros]

What a moment and it looks like an Easter egg. Agree with boosting the contrast, but it is just a detail to make this already stunning image better.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely capture. Great colours and focus. The egg provides a real focal point and the HA and eye contact are spot on. Agree with Chris' contrast suggestion.

[Joe Senzatimore]

I too think a little contrast boost would make a great image even better. Great action captured.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Very interesting behavioral image. Nice pose.
Being noiseless at ISO2000 looks really impressive.

Szimi

[Jay Gould]

Lovely image; tells a great story!

Noiseless at 2000; now I know why I am eagerly awaiting the new 1D4!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great moment captured. I also like the eye contact and soft light. While the high ISO performance of the 1D3 looks good, I would run NR on the BG, contrast boost has been mentioned.

[Michael Zajac]

Overall beautiful image. The egg is a nice addition. I might bring up the mid-tone contrast as suggested. Sharpness and detail nice.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Simply amazing natural moment! Great light, pose, perch, BG, detail and colors! I wonder if a tad more contrast would help...
Congratulaitons!