Yellow-billed Kite

We know the summer is upon us when the first Yellow-billed Kites start arriving in our neck of the woods. This intra-African migrant (sometimes regarded as a sub-species of the Black Kite Milvus milvus) is a common sight in South Africa throughout the southern summer. This guy paid us a brief visit at Giants Castle to snatch a morsel and disappear again. The soft morning light, filtered by cloud, helped to accentuate the feather detail, and the pink dawn rays on the mountain slopes gave an almost unreal look to the background.

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Date/Time: 2008:08:30 09:47:25
Shutter speed: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Focal length: 700mm

fantastic shot. great colors and detail in the bird. wonderful light and beautiful background. I killer shot.

Markus

I was going to comment on the BG colours as they are fantastic, the pose and exposure are great and details, as you said, thanks to filtered light are outstanding! Compo looks good but I would give the whole image a very little bit of Noise Rediction. Congratulations!

what an awesome bg and a wonderful looking bird!! congrats, chris!!

This is a stunning image. The bg rocks indeed.
Very nice details and sharpness.

Szimi

Cool pose, fanned tail, light and BG, underwing details are great, too. Maybe a bit less sharpening?

The soft subdued warm light is fantastic as is the sharpness and details. Just love the blue and pink BG. Nice wing position and tail spread.

Robert

This is an excellent work. Perfect clarity and a great wingspan. Nice pastel sky in the bg.

Excellent job. Great background and wonderful details.

Chris, I always look for your images, you produce beautiful work and this one is no exception for all the reasons already mentioned. Extremely well done as usual and looking forward to your next image :D

The beautiful subject, wonderful pose, soft light, and sharp detail are all great, but that pastel sky BG puts this one over the top. Excellent in every respect.

Beautifully managed exposure Chris - light and BG perfect and wonderful pose

Really like the sharpness and exposure. That beautiful background really is a great bonus!

Technically perfect and the soft light and pastel BG makes it a work of art. Congrats!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

Fantastic shot, beautiful bird and bg, congratulations.

Cristián Marinovic

Just a gorgeous backdrop for this one. Great stuff as usual!

Gorgeous Chris! Love the BG and detail in the birds feathers. Love the scanning look. Just excellent!