Black-necked Stilts - Pillow Talk

[gail bisson]

Had a wonderful time watching the courtship and mating ritual of the stilts while in Florida.
After copulating, the male stilt dismounts the female then puts his wing over her for a brief second and they cross bills for another second.
Taken in Sarasota mid-April at around 6:00PM.
Canon 1DX
600mm II
ISO 800 f 8.0
SS 1/2500
PP Crop to ~ 60% FF ( wish I had left my 1.4TC on), usual sliders in LR5, levels, cloned out 2 black spots in the water, DE at 2% to the blacks on the wing and USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is really beautiful and intimate.
What makes the shot for me is the trailing water off the wingtip of the near bird. Just magical!
Great work Gail. :)

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Gail! I like the interaction, sharpness, composition and setting. The water trailing of the wing really adds to the image.

[Charlene Bacchioni]

Gail great interaction and colours ,well done.

[William Dickson]

Very nice Gail. Love the colours throughout and the pose on both birds, really fab. Good work

Will

[Alison McCoy]

Amazing image Gail. Congratulations on the capture.

[Troy Lim]

Nice mating ritual, a lot cleaner shot than what I got. The chest appears to be a bit too bright.
I was shooting there around the same time also. I guess we missed each other.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, lovely low angle, and any interaction between two subjects always raises the points table. Well exposed, especially on the blacks, whites dont look bad either. I do like that one wing from each stilt is splayed, and the curled water spray from the wingtip LLC takes this over the top.

Apart from the black plumage on the back of their necks, these guys are identical to our Stilts.

[Marina Scarr]

Love your title and the behavior you captured here. My fav parts are the raised leg of the male and the trailing water off of the wing. Those add so much to an already strong image. It was nice meeting up with you Gail and SO happy you were able to capture some stilts mating!!!

[Bill Dix]

What a wonderful capture in every way. Pose, colors, bg, and that trailing water. Good that you were able to get the eye of the second bird.