First Winter Bonaparte's Gull Takes Off

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4x
Gitzo 3530LS/Wimberley
Standing in water

ISO 250
1/4000
f/5.6

A couple weeks ago I went to a Fort Myers, FL beach where I like to photograph terns in flight. I found some Forster's but they were fishing pretty far out, so I went out as deep as I dared with my rig. I still was frustrated by how small they were in the frame, but I watched them swoop and swirl as they so gracefully do. I realized there was another species in with the group, a small tern-like gull with beautiful markings on its wings, in fact, there were about 4 of these. I had no idea what they were but I began to try and track them in flight as I was struck by how handsome they were. Unfortunately all the nice flight shots I got were a bit too distant for my liking, but at one point, one landed in the water not too far from me, and I was able to capture it after it took off. This gives an idea of what the wings looks like. I didn't know what they were till I got home and looked in my guidebook: first winter Bonaparte's.
This is cropped to a vertical from a horizontal. Wish head was angled a bit more away, but then I guess the whole bird would be too (as they tend to look directly ahead when taking off).
Thanks in advance for any and all comments and critiques. I hope you like it.

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Very nicely exposed, good full up wing position, very nice pattern on the wings.

I think the vertical comp works well with the strong diagonals created by the wings.

The bill shows off well against the water, where often it is lost with the head this straight ahead, so works for me.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Super running pose. Love the specs of water behind the gull. Great find on this gull BTW. Wings up and the one foot on the water is awesome. Wish for a little more eye contact

[Robert D. Gregg]

Excellent capture!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Melissa,
This is generally not my favorite wing position.....but in this case with the run and vert comp.....works for me as well. Excellent exposure as well.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like this alot Melissa. I like the action you got and I agree with Roman that although not generally my favorite wing position it does work very well here. Isn't it fun to "discover" a new species!!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Melissa...very nice. excellent exposure and crop. You probably were not expecting the bird to take off in this angle towards you. If so, then a smaller aperture would have been better for DOF coverage....head looks a bit out of the range. If mine, I'd try some sharpening.

[Bill Dix]

Boneys are lovely gulls, and this wing position really shows off his handsome plumage. ( I personally like this pose.) I'm with KD on the possibility of just a little more sharpening; and I might wish for the bird to be a tiny bit further up and to the right in the frame. I have no good shots of this species, and wish this were mine.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hola Melissa, very nice details on whites and nice water also. A very handsome gull indeed.