Black Guillemot

I spent 3 hours waiting for this $%^&* seabird to give this fish to his mate but he never did. All he did was show off and tease but never deliver the goods. He had that same fish in his beak for 3 hours. Periodically, he would fly out to sea and dunk the fish (to clean or moisten it?) and return to the rocks.
Until I spent all this time with the guillemots I had never noticed the slight green sheen to the head.
Flatey, Iceland. June 2019
Canon 1 DX, 600mm v3 and 1.4x
I am away from my main computer so do not have access to my settings.
Nothing added or cloned.
The BG is the sea with kelp floating on the surface.
Crop to ~75% FF. No more room on bottom.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

Nice pose and the perch is neat as well. Those red feet stand out nicely against it. The fish is a plus as well.

Well that is dedication, the sort of thing I am also guilty of, so often with no result. You did get a very good shot of the male with the fish, and bonus wings out.

Great shot Gail and that is patience. May not be the reward you were wanting but that is wildlife photography. I do see some of the sheen on the head that you were speaking of. If you had not pointed it out I would have missed it.
For my personal taste I wish their was a little more at the bottom showing more rock. But I know you were losing focus.Neat shot with the wings and prey.Hard to believe he would have kept that fish that long. TFS

A beautiful image Gail, I like the open wings, the prey and the pose, those striking red feet and the green tinge on head are lovely. TFS. Appreciate your patience.

Well look on the bright side Gail you still have a wonderful image! Lovely pose with prey, well composed and ideal colours. The shutter speed looks to have been adequate at 1/1600 and the aperture looks just about right too:w3, no appreciable noise, all in all a super shot.

This is gorgeous Gail! I totally sympathize, but at least you came away with a killer image in its own right. The exposure is spot on. Love the green sheen that you've mentioned and the red feet add so much pop to the image. The yellow moss is a very nice touch as well. The BG is perfect too. No nits from me at all.

All good. Nice wing flap; great exposure control. Fish a bonus. That's a long time for him to be holding one fish, and a long time for you to sit there watching him. But what a nice place to sit.

Lovely looking frame Gail....Great detail in the blacks and a fab looking pose. Perch and BG 'fit' nicely. I have still to photograph these birds. Well done.

Will

Been looking agin, and what a great story...But, I reckon he was flying out to sea, not to clean or moisten, I reckon he was trying to impress her, trying to pretend he caught a 'better' fish for her...But she 'knew' :S3:

Great patience in the field - both you and the bird (never had a female wait 3 hours for me :bg3:)

I like the timing of the wing flap, as it shows off both wings as opposed to getting the near wing full back. You've handled the blacks perfectly

Mike

This is simply great, Gail. After reading your story it reminded me of the Puffins a couple of years ago on Flatey with a similar behavior. It seems they don't want to give away the nesting location and their young. Though they eventually did fly to the rocky cliffs, we kept our distance.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

Hi Geoffrey,
You bring up an excellent point. I was aware that this fish may not be for a mating/courtship display so left the area ( to go back to the hotel to pee!!:bg3: TMI) for about 20 minutes and when I returned the fish was still in his mouth and he was still occasionally approaching the female. I am quite confident that there was no nest around. I admit that when we are shooting puffins I worry that we are impeding the puffins entry into the burrow. So, when a puffin lands near me with a mouthful of fish I fire off a few pics then roll away about 20 meters and lie hidden in the grass until the puffin re-emerges from the burrow. I hope that most photographers realize this and move away quickly once the puffin lands with his fish.

Ditto all the positives above. This is a great image of a difficult to photograph species ... Behaviors differ. At the Farnes the puffins are 100% oblivious of humans. They are, however, really scared of the gulls that attack them as soon as they land. Every time. Many of them pratically fly into the burrows!

a