Waxwing

[Ivan Ellison]

Showing how dextrous these birds are, he caught it and swallowed it after this frame.
Llandudno, N Wales 15/11/12
50 % crop in portrait mode. Slight reduction in brightness, cloned an oof branch running down beneath the bird and some very oof berries in bg that showed as slight red mess to the lhs of the bird. Sharpened twice for the web using USM in PE 10.
ISO 800
1/1600 sec
f 4.5,
Canon 1D mk IV, Canon 500 mm f4 is.

[laurie golden]

Lucky - or skilled catch for both of you. Very nice sharp image. Perfect bird on the berries. I might have not cropped so much but wonderful the way it is.

[Bill Dix]

Very cool. Terrific catch(), and comp. Nicely done; I bet you smiled when you saw this one.

[gail bisson]

Great action and light.
I like the tight comp and the curve of the branch and those beautiful red berries,
Gail

[Ivan Ellison]

Thanks for your comments, Laurie-, skilled on the birds behalf and lucky by me- although you do have to make your own luck with many hours and many many missed shots, .Bill- yes I had a graet smile on my face when I reviewed this one.

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool pose, you captured a nice moment!

[Raymond Lee]

Great shot Ivan! Nice sharp details and colour! It's always fun to capture a feeding action like this! If this was my photo, I would trim down the bottom just a tiny bit and add more canvas to the top and right

[Grace Scalzo]

Way to go! Super work and a fun image to view.

[John Cooper]

A great moment well captured Ivan - it really has impact and holds the viewer's attention. Well done!

[Marina Scarr]

Super moment captured. Great details here and the berry placement is amazing. I am with Raymond on trimming from the bottom and adding top and right.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

What a great waxwing image. I want one like this :) Love the flying berry and the fact that you can see the tongue

[Jon Rista]

I have to agree with Cheryl here...GREAT waxwing image! I'd love to have a shot like this. (We are supposed to have Cedar Waxwings in Colorado, but I have yet to see one...maybe the chance will still present itself this winter.)

Sky in the background looks superb all nice and clean like that, great job cloning. I also just LOVE its tongue! You never much see bird tongues, but this guy's is a beauty! ;-P LOL

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ivan, very well timed, and hope you got the frame as the berrie entered the beak. I think your overall comp works well.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent moment captured.Love the pose with open beak,tongue,colors,nice perch and red berries.

Regards,
Satish.

[PhilCook]

woohoo!!!...gotta love the timing on this one Ivan, and love the vivid berries on the duller backdrop and of course the tongue....excellent photography !

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent image, Ivan. Love the berry in the air and the open beak.

[Frank Schauf]

A pefekte situation, congratulates.

[Shawn Zierman]

Classic waxwing fruit toss image. It is great fun to watch them do this.
Sweet light quality and well timed shutter click. I agree with the crop suggestion
offered in pane#7. Over here in the states, this species is called bohemian waxwing...
same over there, or just waxwing?

[Ivan Ellison]

Thanks for your comments, Yes it is the same - Bohemian waxwing but because we very rarely get the Cedar waxwings we just call them plain old Waxwings.