A gull from Gondwana

[John Chardine]

This is the ubiquitous gull of the southern hemisphere- the Southern Black-backed Gull, AKA Kelp or Dominican Gull. This bird, likely the female of the pair, was nesting on Half Moon Island, in the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. This bird had a very dark, flecked iris compared to many I see- perhaps a young bird?

I did very little to the image except a crop and sharpen. Colour correction was done in LAB colour. It was a grey day with unfortunately no detail in the sky. Comments welcome

21 November 2009
Canon 50D, 400mm f5.6
ISO 500, 1/800s, f5.6
Tripod mount

[Tony Whitehead]

Well exposed to get detail in the dark plumage, John. Pose is good and I really like the texture, shape and colour of the rock perch. I would probably crop a little off the top.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi John. This brings back memories of the hundreds of hours I used to spend carefully observing the behavior of these birds - many years ago. :) This is a very nice image. I like the pose, sharpness, exposure, and background. The sky, overcast light, and rock perch look like Antarctica to me. I could see taking a little off the top as an alternate crop, but it's a minor point. Well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Steve above and count me in the crop the top camp. I wish only that the bird's eye were fully open. All in all, loverly.

[John Chardine]

Thanks for all the helpful comments. Here's a cropped version.

Artie- I had a lot of trouble with the eyes with that pair that day. They were so relaxed they spent most of the time napping. I did grab the odd image with the eye fully open, but chances were very few. I guess they didn't know we existed, which is the way I like it.

[Tony Whitehead]

Crop on the repost works for me, John.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Not too much different than the gulls from Laurasia :)
Great looking though, nice HA, plumage, exp,
the rock adds a lot. I like the bill on this bird very much.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, even before reading your description, I recoginised this as a Kelp Gull, as we know them here. These guys are abundant all over the coastlines of South Africa. Good detail in the blacks, and I like the sharp detail on the head and beak.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like this a lot, very good sharpness, exposure control, angle and eye contact. Instead of cropping some off the top I might just put the bird a bit higher in the frame if you have more at the bottom.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Handsome gull for sure. liked it a lot. beautifully exposed. perfect head angle and perch that goes very well with the rest of the image.