I've been in Florida for 10 days and realise how amazing the place is for bird photography.
I will post more when I return home (editing on my laptop right now), but wanted to post this Long-billed Curlew feeding on a crab from Fort Desoto. For those who have observed this behaviour, apologies for going over what must be routine to you. Several feeding events caught "on film" show that the bird first grasps the crab by its big pincer (it seems to only have one like a fiddler crab). The curlew then twists the crab by rapid rotation of the head, in an attempt to break off the claw. This may take more than one attempt. Once the claw is removed, the crab usually drops to the ground where it's picked up by the bill tip and manoeuvred into the mouth- a feat unto itself consider how long the bill is. The claw is presumably a hazard if swallowed attached to a living animal so this behaviour seems reasonable. It is amazing how quickly all this prey handling happens.
I cropped a little and rotated to level, then finished off with some sharpening after resizing.
Date: 26 February, 2013, Time: 0835h
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS II USM, @ 500 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/2000s, f/7.1
What a super image, John, and thank you for the detailed description of the behavior. I am SO happy to see that you found the curlew, that she gave you such great photo opps and that you had a chance to experience Fort Desoto.
Hi John,
This is lovely. Great low POV, perfect HA and crab position is excellent.
I would add a points of black to the neutrals (in selective coloring) as I find the image slightly washed out. I would also clone out the little white blob and red dot near the beak (if not against your ethics)
Well done and I wish I was in Fort Desoto right now! Enjoy your visit,
Gail
Terrific behavior, well captured and described. Thanks for sharing it. Great low POV and pose. I also thought a slight tweaking of the blacks might be in order -- worth trying Gail's suggestion.
I love the explanation you provided here John. I've been to Ft. Desoto often enough and never found this species even when it was reported being there...I'm envious!! Great feeding pose, low angle looks good and the prey in mid-air toss is cool. As posted I think a bit more sharpening to the face area would be good. Glad your Florida trip was productive, but it usually is down there!!
Super pose and detail, I like the composition. I do however get the impression that the image is just a tad too bright. You may disagree but I think it would be worthwhile checking it out
Thanks again all. Jonathan- the image may well be too bright. I was holding off posting until I got home to a proper display. On my laptop, the image looks more or less like I remember- the light was fairly flat, warm and bright. I'll check the image on the studio display soon and repost.
As promised a repost- I "spotted" the image a little more, darkened the blacks and the overall image and upped the saturation a little. There was a slight bit of motion blur in the head as Daniel picked up, so I selectively pre-sharpened that part before final sharpening.
Crab breakfast
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