Kingfisher in front of fall colors

[Lyle Gruby]

Shot this just before the sun came over the trees at my local state park a few days ago . I positioned my perch a while back in front of a tree where the leaves were changing the fastest. Luckily she's still here as the leaves are beginning to turn. She always comes straight to this perch and appears to survey the lake every morning before she really begins hunting. She looks down and stiffens as if she's going to dive for a fish, but I've never seen her dive from this perch. Today she was on this perch just looking around (way too dark for any shots) when she seemed alarmed and began rattling aggressively. I thought she had seen me even though I hadn't moved. Suddenly, an owl silently flew out of the tree directly above me. The owl flew low over the lake and the kingfisher followed at a safe distance rattling all the way across the lake. The KF stayed on the other side of the lake rattling continuously until I assume the owl flew off and she felt safe again. I thought it was a really interesting interaction. I don't know how any predator ever catches such a wary bird, and even if a predator did catch a KF they'd be in for the fight of their lives. That attitude and their hunting style are what make KF's my favorite bird. All C&C welcome.

Techs:
D3S
ISO 1600
700mm
f/5.6
1/160
Tripod flattened, wimberley head
Full camo, using tall grass as a natural blind, fake grass over the lens and camera, camo netting and fake grass over me.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, low light, HA and sweet BG. The whites on the neck are a little hot. Nice image Lyle.

[keith mitchell]

Lyle you sound as if you worked very hard to get this beautiful crisp clear image ,like it a lot.

Keith.

[vishaljadhav]

Nice image , i like the colours great looking bg
As Jim said a bit of hot white , other colours look super
nice looking pose too, a good image over all

[Lyle Gruby]

Thanks all for the feedbacks, but the whites aren't hot on my monitor. I pushed them in post, but I had plenty of room with them at the original capture.

[Randy Stout]

Lyle:

Neat story, and fine image. Soft light is excellent, like the texture of the image, amount of perch showing is just right.

I might be tempted to crop just a bit from the right side.

I think it is the loss of detail in small areas of the whites on the neck that gives the impression of them being blown.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Superb image. Beautiful pose,colors,perch,nice BG and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Lyle, Nice image with lovely BG. Is it a crop and if so by how much? I thought the white looked hot too, but now I think it is lack of details. Otherwise a lovely image. Loi