Say's Phoebe

Caught this Say's Phoebe returning to its perch after a successful hunt. My friend and I got lucky when we saw it coming back to the perch. We both hit our shutter buttons as the bird came in but the Phoebe got startled from the noise and did a quick hover around the perch. Auto focus was locked on to the tip of the perch and luckily the bird hovered right at the perches focal distance. We got quite a few cool frames in that two second hover. Hope you like this one.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH from truck@ 4:20pm---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

Just realized that this was my 3000th post on BPN so I wanted to thank everyone for all the great help and suggestions over the past few years. I really appreciate it.

Congratulations and thank you for your comments and wonderful photos.

This one is top! Nice light and BG tone. Beautiful sharp bird in action & flight. Like the pose and eye contact too!

Cheers!
Miro

Congrats on the 3000 David - I always look forward to your superb images (and this one is no exception!)
cheers Greg

Great timing for this. What's not to like?

Awesome image David.

Wowser! Color, light, action, sharpness, natural history...this one has it all. Love the cricket prey...Perfect sharpening on the bird. Can't really image a nicer background color scheme to go with the frontal view of this species. If the wing had not merged with the perch it would be too good to be true!...regardless, it's an amazing image.

David, congrats on the milestone. What a gorgeous image to celebrate it. Your images have always been inspiring, and your critiques most helpful. Looking forward to the next 3K.

This is beautiful. Great wing spread, awesome color coordination, prey; and the usual techs.

Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate the nice comments.

Spectacular landing pose. Wonderful colors and great IQ. Superb details, nice lights, beautiful lights and composition.
Heartiest Congratulations on 3K post.

Regards,
Satish.

Color, light, action, sharpnes is very well. TFS

Stunning shot, David! Wonderful pose, light, exposure and IQ!

Great capture! Nice sharp details throughout the bird.

Holy cr**p, this one is good! IQ, action, light are superb. IOTW I think!
Gail

Amazing image, David. Winner for sure in my book.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shawn Zierman

If the wing had not merged with the perch it would be too good to be true!...regardless, it's an amazing image.

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Sort of like this...

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...3DB/image.tiff

https://www.dropbox.com/s/upwhk954m8lg9ij/Phoebe.jpg

Congrats on 3000 posts! What a way to commemorate your milestone!

Holy excrement indeed! What a fantastic image Dave. Amazing light quality, killer pose and I love how well the BG complements the colors on the bird.
The in-mouth prey is icing on top. I'm digging the shadow of the tiny little foot on the wing there :)

Thanks for all your wonderful posts and your constructive and encouraging critiques. Congrats on the milestone and looking forward to the next 3K :cheers:

Thanks again everyone! Im glad you guys and gals like this shot. Im glad the sharpness looks good because with shots of small birds like this, getting the sharpness right is tricky, at lest it is for me :)

A beautiful BG, love the contrast of the color of the under belly with the BG. Great timing.

Congrats David. Thanks for all your photos and the time you take to offer comments and advice. I for one really appreciate it. This is a cracker image! What an awesome wing display and a bug in its mouth nogal! :). Awesome!

I remember that bird! Great shot buddy.

First off, congratulations on your 3000th post, David! It's been a pleasure to see your images and to have met you. This image is a great way to celebrate your 3000th b/c it's simply out of this world. The light and action are just over the top.

Exceptional David, great, vibrant colours with delicate soft pastels in the wings, plus having the food in the beak is the icing. To have a complimentary BKG too is just, cracking work. :cheers:

Agree with Alan - awesome!

TFS
Steve

Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the comments.

I guess we have an IOW and possibly an IOY. Outstanding! Congratulations for the milestone and it is celebrated with a super picture.

Hi David, A bit late to this party, was away for a week on 'safari'. :w3 This is just incredible - fantastic wingspread and fanned tail and just the overall colours. Sharpness spot on, and his catch a bonus. Very well captured.

Congrats on your 3000 milestone. ( a bit passed by now :w3 ) Thanks a stack for all your feedback on my images, as well as your valued participation on the site.