Snail Kite Chase

[arash_hazeghi]

Another photo from last week with Jim Neiger and Doug Brown on Jim's boat. The grackles often harass and chase the kites on their way to the nest. Jim loves and has extensively photograph this behavior...I am posting this one for him, thanks for hosting us!

92956

MK4 500mm f/4 1/1600sec ISO 800. Hope you like it!

[arash_hazeghi]

PS. here (http://ari1982.smugmug.com/Animals/raptor/Snail-Kites/i-phxqkHV/0/X3/ah__0620-X3.jpg) is a larger version with better details

[Mike Tracy]

Cool action captured in nice light. Gorgeous background, just the right amount of foreground and I like the posture of both birds. Wish we could better see the reds of the male kites eyes. The white tail patch has clipped areas as does the red channel of the birds mouth.

[Don Hamilton Jr.]

WoW!! Very Cool Behavior! Priceless Capture... Wing Position, fanned tail, what more could one ask for!! Congrats... Seems that Grackle would get Bloodied in a real fight :eek:
Don

[arash_hazeghi]

Cool action captured in nice light. Gorgeous background, just the right amount of foreground and I like the posture of both birds. Wish we could better see the reds of the male kites eyes. The white tail patch has clipped areas as does the red channel of the birds mouth.

Thanks Mike, I checked the RAW,all channels are OK.

92958

[Jeff Dyck]

Fantastic shot Arash. The flat light works very well here. I love the open-mouth pose of the kite and the inclusion of just enough of the habitat to get a feel of where you were. Well done.

[denise ippolito]

Arash, Great capture. Beautiful details and I love that you were able to get them w/ a nice BG!:S3:

[Mike Tracy]

Thanks Mike, I checked the RAW,all channels are OK.

92958

Gotcha. I realize values sometimes get skewed when converting to jpeg.

[Ofer Levy]

This is a FANTASTIC image! TWO BIF, behaviour, drama and your PERFECT technique - all in relatively poor light - awesome work my friend!!!:5

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Arash; excellent capture Arash. And you got em both in sharp focus at F4. Wow. The soft light really helps, and I don't understand why it is considered "relatively poor light".
I know it probably is a grackle, but it looks like a crow. Not a large crow species, but a crow nontheless. The beak does not look like a grackle (it would be more slender} , the color is a flat black whereas you probably would see slight purplish/blue hues with a grackle in this type of light. It also looks a bit more bulky than a grackle. In this part of the country (Texas Culf Coast) crows are more likely to attack hawks, etc, and I've never seen a grackle do this. I've been wrong about this stuff before, and grackles may be different in Florida. Heck, it might even be a cowbird.....or a grackle.
Of course this really doesn't matter a bit, it is an extraordinary image. regards~Bill

[Harshad Barve]

This is simply outstanding stuff Arashbhai , love the pose and BG
TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash; excellent capture Arash. And you got em both in sharp focus at F4. Wow. The soft light really helps, and I don't understand why it is considered "relatively poor light".
I know it probably is a grackle, but it looks like a crow. Not a large crow species, but a crow nontheless. The beak does not look like a grackle (it would be more slender} , the color is a flat black whereas you probably would see slight purplish/blue hues with a grackle in this type of light. It also looks a bit more bulky than a grackle. In this part of the country (Texas Culf Coast) crows are more likely to attack hawks, etc, and I've never seen a grackle do this. I've been wrong about this stuff before, and grackles may be different in Florida. Heck, it might even be a cowbird.....or a grackle.
Of course this really doesn't matter a bit, it is an extraordinary image. regards~Bill

Thanks Bill, I am really poor in identifying birds that are not raptors :bg3:(or imitating bird calls) so more chances that I am wrong...we saw grackles harass kites all day so I just "assumed" this was a grackle.

I think Ofer was referring that the light was low (overcast) which was the case... but at least I didn't get shadows :S3:

[Dumay de Boulle]

Feel repetitive in my comments...So all I am gonna say is what a image Arash!!!:cheers::5

[Chris Kotze]

Excellent action captured. Super detail and BG. Great work done

[Stu Bowie]

Arash, good flight postures from both birds, and just love the open beak from the Kite. Both well exposed in soft light, and both nice and sharp. I like how they are both separated from the BG.

[Tin Man Lee]

Stunning action with top side view of both birds and both in sharp focus. The calling and head turn of the kite adds to the drama. Congratulations for a wonderful capture!

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Fantastic action, a real cracker getting both birds sharp. I also love the plain BKGD TFS:cheers::cheers:

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arash, I had seen this one on your website last week and was wondering why you hadn't posted it yet :-) Stunning shot. the BG, action, DOF, IQ...top notch stuff. Hard one, for sure. Loved the open bill with all the red color there. And those grass blades really add lot...and none of them touching the birds.

You can post to ID forum to check if it is a imm. grackle or a red-winged blackbird.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks for all the comments I will put a link in the ID forum

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Amazing amazing image, Arash. I can imagine one doesn't get too many chances when action like this happens. And to get everything right - two sharp birds with perfect HA, perfect pose, perfect bg is a testament to your skill. Doesn't get any better than this.

[DanWalters]

Very nice! Like all the green surrounding the birds. Also like the open bill and the fact both birds are very sharp.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Thats a cool capture Bhai... TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everybody for your nice comments

looks like the black bird is not a grackle for sure and neither a crow...remaining choices are RWBB and eastern cowbird...appreciate more input