Dad bringing home the groceries

Took me almost all morning to get the both of them in frame.
Nikon D810, 1/3200 @ 7.1, ISO 800, 500mm, tripod

Well worth the effort!
Love how I can see the tail of the little one through the hole in the cactus!
Both birds are nice and sharp and good light. And they both have a catchlight!
My only suggestion to improve this image would be to clone out the vertical OOF vegetation at the bottom of the frame,
Gail

I think I agree with gail re the OFbit at the bottom. Apart from that , the image has the lot- Bird coming in in flight- food item- nestsite and chick!
Nice one.
John

This is a sweet image, great timing and perfect view of the incoming bird.
Great shot, TFS.

Well worth the wait. Looks like fill flash was used?

Ed

Thanks everyone for the comments. There was no fill flash used. Here's a repost with the OOF vegetation remove

Just awesome -- well worth the wait!!

This is one heck of an image, and a story-teller to boot! Prefer the RP but for most contests, you'd have to leave it in. To make this image even better and if you are thinking of printing it, I would burn the parts of the cactus that are brighter...those parts beneath the chick's head. Since the focus appears to be on the chick/nest tree, I might consider a tad more sharpening of the adult's head (minus the eye and beak). I tried the smart sharpening just around that around and it worked nicely. I am envious of this image!!!

Amazing capture, Roy.

Love the image but agree the head of the adult does not look sharp at all to me.

Fantastic timing, I agree that the adult is a touch soft, but definitely something I could live with if an extra round of sharpening doesn't work.

That said, I think it's such a good image it would be worth a go

Mike

Hi Roy, not easy to capture incoming shots, and you have nailed this. Love the forward wing position of dad, and the eager wait from the youngster. I prefer the OP with regards to 'brightness' .