A Snack

[Stu Bowie]

It was a pleasant surprise to have White fronted bee-eaters visiting in the Pilanesberg during April, as they had never been around before. Of course we made the most of the opportunity, and here is one having caught his breakfast. The BG is a distant OOF mountain.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2500
F/7.1
ISO 640

Exp Comp 0
hand held

[Riaan Marais]

Hi Stuart, nice light and good detail in the feathers. It's always nice to get these in good light conditions, they are very photogenic with all their rich colors. Riaan

[christopher galeski]

very nice Stuart,nice BG,like the perch,good detail,bonus having the insect,and lighting well I wish we could get it here,can see a touch of noise in the bird.thanks.

[arash_hazeghi]

great pose , BG and a nice perch. nice prey item. would sharpen the dragonfly a bit more

[gail bisson]

Another beautiful shot. I really like the comp with the extra space below. Works for me.
Beautiful BG and perch. Beautiful light as well.
Love the prey as well.
Gail

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely stuff BG is great and the catch is always a bonus...Man with all the time I spent at Mankwe I never got see these guys!

[PhilCook]

I really cant pick any room for improvement, hard to better this shot I feel. May I ask if this was from a hide or similar, 400mm is not a huge focal length for a small bird such as this

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think you have this just right Stu, exposure colours and detail all excellent. I can see the dragonfly just as it is, I think it would look a little false/unnatural if it were sharpened further. Oh yes composition - pretty darned good too!

[Stu Bowie]

May I ask if this was from a hide or similar, 400mm is not a huge focal length for a small bird such as this

Thanks Phil. Its difficult to explain this location. There is a hide, but this was shot from a walkway which just has a wooden 'fence' on either side. One is partially hidden from the surrounding perches, although this was quite far. The kingfishers are pretty relaxed, totally wild, but they are more interested in their next meal looking for fish, than photographers taking pics of them.

Thanks to everyone else for the feedback and comments.

[Satish Ranadive]

Fabulous image with very nice composition. Loved the pose, beautiful colors and details on the bee-eater with breakfast.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Fantastic image Stuart! Catch just puts it over the top!

[dankearl]

Very nice comp with the bird high in the frame, nice perch, pose and prey.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful bird, fabulous shot. Great pose, and terrific wing position on the prey.

[Austin Thomas]

No problems with that image Stuart. Ticks all the boxes.

Cheers

Austin

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, catch, sharpness and BG. Excellent image Stuart!

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Lovely image on all counts, colors are really fine.

Was this shot as vertical, or cropped from horizontal? If the latter, I could see another version cropped horizontally with the perch working the diagonal of the frame

Excellent as is!

Cheers

Randy

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details, a great shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Was this shot as vertical, or cropped from horizontal? If the latter, I could see another version cropped horizontally with the perch working the diagonal of the frame

Thanks Randy. I should have stated in my introduction - this has been cropped vertical from Horizontal. I do have plenty space to create a horizontal. Funny, I did take quite a few vertically, but not this frame. :w3

Thank you all for the kind words and feedback.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hey Stu, this is just excellent. Perch, bg, prey, light, IQ - all tops. Terrific work (as always)

[Arno Ellmer]

Just my late comment,Stu. Well captured with a beautiful perch,comp and bg.