Preening in Pink

[James Shadle]

This was the widest wing position I captured during a preening session by this Roseate Spoonbill.

I had six other photographers with me at this location and we were able to get this close without stressing a single bird. This was possible because everyone approached slowly and respected the birds comfort zone.

Nikon D700
Sigma 300-800mm @ 800mm with Kenko Pro 300 DGX 2X = 1600mm
ISO 800 1/1000 @ F16
Gitzo 1400 series aluminum tripod with Mongoose 3.5a head.

[Tin Man Lee]

Beautiful! Superb details, background, reflection and pose. Almost look like a pink "heart" shape if I look from further away. Hope I can see something like that in Florida in May!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Very nice pose James, love the colors.

[Randy Stout]

Well James:

I can see I was shooting way to short at 840mm! Really nice isolation from that blue mud background, which I couldn't quite control at my focal length.

Superb colors, pose, sharpness.

That has to be the best bill markings I have seen on a spoonie! He really rocks.

Cheers

Randy

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved the water reflections on the wings here james Bhai.. loved the pose and colors here..

[Ofer Levy]

Awesome light and colours. Composition is better than the similar image posted by Artie but it is still not perfect IMHO. I feel it needs to have much more room at the bottom for the virtual leg and a bit less at the top. As presented is a bit too centered.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely photo.

I really like the exposure. I can't recall seeing a bird photo at f/16 and 1/1000.

I also like the idea of a bit more on bottom.

Dave

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the idea of more room at bottom...but not not the virtual leg (already enough room there for that) but rather for more of the pink reflection. I love that angled leg, it almost looks like we can see tension from the birds weight and pose on it.

Lovely colours throughout, and I like the pose. Low angle, of course, is fantastic.

I'm not surprised Randy used the term "rocks"...:S3:

[allanrube]

I like the pose - really wide body shaped liked a heart.

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

James, the details in the bill are beautiful. Why is there such a difference in bill texture with spoonies?

[Grady Weed]

Hey Little Brother! A bulls eye capture, sharp, well exposed, no stress on the bird, had a great time doing it. What more can you ask for? Well.....me there! See you soon!

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous colors and detail Jim excellent shot.

[James Shadle]

James, the details in the bill are beautiful. Why is there such a difference in bill texture with spoonies?

Most wading birds will have some degree of color intensity variation of their breeding colors.

Spoonbills not only have color intensity variations, they also will have color pattern differences. Some of the variations include differences in lore, head, neck, throat colors as well as how deep and dark the lines on their bill become.

[Harshad Barve]

I am loving this :cheers::cheers::cheers:
TFS

[Sid Garige]

Excellent image James. Very elegant.

[Stu Bowie]

Fantastic pose, and just love the wing display, together with the colour of the spoonie. Well captured.