Dad bringing home the groceries

[Roy Priest]

Took me almost all morning to get the both of them in frame.
Nikon D810, 1/3200 @ 7.1, ISO 800, 500mm, tripod

[gail bisson]

Well worth the effort!
Love how I can see the tail of the little one through the hole in the cactus!
Both birds are nice and sharp and good light. And they both have a catchlight!
My only suggestion to improve this image would be to clone out the vertical OOF vegetation at the bottom of the frame,
Gail

[John Robinson]

I think I agree with gail re the OFbit at the bottom. Apart from that , the image has the lot- Bird coming in in flight- food item- nestsite and chick!
Nice one.
John

[Troy Lim]

This is a sweet image, great timing and perfect view of the incoming bird.
Great shot, TFS.

[Ed Kelly]

Well worth the wait. Looks like fill flash was used?

Ed

[Roy Priest]

Thanks everyone for the comments. There was no fill flash used. Here's a repost with the OOF vegetation remove

[Diane Miller]

Just awesome -- well worth the wait!!

[Marina Scarr]

This is one heck of an image, and a story-teller to boot! Prefer the RP but for most contests, you'd have to leave it in. To make this image even better and if you are thinking of printing it, I would burn the parts of the cactus that are brighter...those parts beneath the chick's head. Since the focus appears to be on the chick/nest tree, I might consider a tad more sharpening of the adult's head (minus the eye and beak). I tried the smart sharpening just around that around and it worked nicely. I am envious of this image!!!

[Karl Egressy]

Amazing capture, Roy.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Love the image but agree the head of the adult does not look sharp at all to me.

[Mike Poole]

Fantastic timing, I agree that the adult is a touch soft, but definitely something I could live with if an extra round of sharpening doesn't work.

That said, I think it's such a good image it would be worth a go

Mike

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Roy, not easy to capture incoming shots, and you have nailed this. Love the forward wing position of dad, and the eager wait from the youngster. I prefer the OP with regards to 'brightness' .