Stressed Malachite

[Stu Bowie]

Adding on from my previous post of a Pied Kingfisher, here is a Malachite Kingfisher being stressed out by the presence of another Malachite. Unfortunately he didnt turn the other way, but just love the hint of the tiny tongue.
Taken at a wetlands south of Johannesburg in January early morning. The BG is water.

Canon 1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1250
F/7.1
ISO 800

Manual exposure
Hand held from a hide

[David Salem]

Nice shot Stuart. Great color and cool pose with the flared open wings and the open mouth. Exposure and details look excellent. Like the comp too. Well done.

[vishaljadhav]

Nice Behaviour image

[christopher galeski]

nice one Stuart,sharp good details,loverly colors and light,nice pose.

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir:
Wonderful pose with wing full up and open beak. Love the colors,HA,details and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu just love the colours, your early morning starts really pay off. The pose and action stopping shutter speed make this special.
Composition is probably what I would have chosen but there does seem to be perhaps a little too much empty space on the right - what d'ya reckon??

[Stu Bowie]

there does seem to be perhaps a little too much empty space on the right - what d'ya reckon??

Thanks Jon. If I remember, the little guy is sitting on the top third of the frame, therefore the space on the right 'should be fine' I could maybe relook at taking some off the bottom.

Thanks everyone else for your comments. Always appreciated.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Stu, I like the open wings & beak with the tongue showing. The colors and sharpness are spot on!!

[Karl Egressy]

Nice image Stuart, love the up wing pose and open beak. The colours are beautiful.

[gail bisson]

I like how the sun is hitting the raised wing and there is enough head turn to keep me happy.
I like the diagonal line in the perch as well. Like you, I think the tongue makes this special
Gail

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hi Stu,
Images of birds without eye contact rarely work for me. But this one works wonderfully!
The plain bg and the simple slanted perch all contribute to locking the viewers' attention on the outstanding pose and the brilliant colors on this little fellow.
Like you, I love that little tongue showing.
I like the comp, but I could actually see a bit off the bottom and the left (opposite to Jon's feedback :)