The Frog Handoff

[Marina Scarr]

After each gentle mating session, the male Swallow-tailed Kite would hunt down a little snack from a treetop for his honey and hand it off to her without landing. At times she would miss the hand off, and he would circle around for another attempt. Watching and photographing this stunning pair for the entire nesting season, as well as witnessing the rearing of their young, was the highlight of my 2013.

Canon 1D4, Canon 500 & 2.0 TC @ 1000mm
F10, 1/800 sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Feisol tripod, Jobu head

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

[gail bisson]

Hi Marina,
You get 10 out of 10 for the action captured here. Terrific view of the frog.
I like this composition but I did a browser scroll and took some off the bottom to create more of a pano and think it looks nice.
This bird looks like a nightmare to expose for properly. The whites look great but the blacks lack detail in the tails. The blacks on the extended wings look good. Not sure you could have done anything else differently to get a better look at the tail.
A terrific natural history/behavioral shot. Would love this one in my files.
Gail

[Doug Brown]

What a great experience! I know it made from some excellent images too. Love the behavior captured and the way you got eye contact with both birds, who are both totally focused on the frog. I suspect you made your crop choice to preserve the bend in the perch, but could see this with a little taken off the bottom of the frame like Gail suggested; the diagonals of the wings and tail feathers carry the image for me. I also agree that there's room to open up the blacks a bit. Overall great image!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Marina, very well timed to capture the handover of the frog. I do like the inflight 'hovering' pose of the male creating an X shape with his wings and tail. Good detail from the underwings, and Im fine with the comp as is.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

The interaction capture is simply amazing. Must have been a treat observing and photographing this pair. Excellent use of the 2x and your techs look great. Comp works for me as is. Terrific work Marina.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

This was one of those shoots we were able to share and one that I will never forget. Was it not sooo cool? You really got a great view of the frog here and nice head angles on both kites. Great wing position on the male as well. Hope to have another experience like this one soon. Catchlights would have been sweet.

[Holger Leyrer]

Stunning interaction shot. Great timing getting the snack his honey. Really good exposure and composition.

[John Robinson]

All been said Marina -perfect "as it was " shot. The intimacy between the two heads is wonderful.
(We only get rubbish stuff over here "!!!)
John

[keith mitchell]

Marina it sounds like it's been a great experience watching and photographing these birds, this image certainly shows that your work has more than paid off .
hoping to get myself a trip over there later in the year.

Keith

[David Salem]

What a great interaction shot Marina. How cool that we can see both birds heads and eyes well, and the frog well seen is killer. Your tenacity paid off and this is what call real wildlife photography. Well done!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Marina, this is awesome...love the pose of the two birds...and the frog looks good too

[Diane Miller]

Fantastic! All has been said above! I don't mind the dark tail as it appears to be in the bird's shadow.

[christopher galeski]

as been said,nice interaction image,now I know,the way to a ladies heart,is a frogTFS.

[Frank Schauf]

Great timing, great action.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Marina! I like the action, IQ, composition and the view of the frog really adds to the image.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is excellent Marina! love the interaction and food item