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Thread: The Frog Handoff

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Marina Scarr's Avatar
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    Default The Frog Handoff

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    Here's a series of images of a Swallow-tailed Kite pair during nesting season. After the pair mates, the female always waits on the perch for her "goodie." Here the male is trying to hand off her off a frog. He failed on each of his 3 passes/attempts and, in my next series, I"ll demonstrate how he finally succeeded in making his "payment in full."

    I don't have many series to share here b/c I rarely process more than one image from a series. My second frame is my favorite and what I would consider the best of this series. I'll try to think of this forum in the future when processing. It's fun to see the behavior and/or action play out in a series.

    Canon 1D4, Canon 500 & 2.0 TC @ 1000mm
    F10, 1/800sec, ISO 640, manual mode
    Feisol tripod, Jobu head
    Marina Scarr
    Florida Master Naturalist
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  2. #2
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Dearest Marina!

    Warmest welcome to Story Sequences - this is such a wonderful surprise, thank you for participating with such an amazing capture!

    I would have imagined the Kite would "bribe" his partner... surprisingly, she trusts him to bring the gift after the mating has occurred - such an interesting behavioural aspect of this species!

    Love the continuity here, the entire sequence has this feel of something I call "a spot of time" - it is all happening so fast. I also like the framing (constant space in the consecutive frames) and the uninterrupted flow of action in your story.

    In terms of techs, great DOF and exposure is spot-on, lovely natural colours - it all seems effortless and I have no favourite frame, for I love them all, a very special encounter beautifully captured and thoughtfully presented!

    Thank you Marina, I thoroughly enjoyed viewing and I so appreciate your contribution, kindly keep this Forum in mind in the future when you witness something special

    Warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Marina, great sequence! I have only seen a swallowed kite once briefly when he/she flew over the car, so to see and be able to photograph this sequence is a great story. May be this is a new couple, so they still need to learn the moves. Perfect exposure. Loi

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    Impressive stuff Marina!

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    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Hi Marina

    Well captured and processed, I presume it is almost FF with F10 and 1000mm..
    Love the sequence, whites well exposed, comp with stick works!
    Either a very small frog or a BIG bird- no wonder she is not impressed with his small frog..
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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    Gorgeous in every respect -- techs and action. Beautiful Vs of wings and tails, and an amazing behavior capture!

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    A wonderful sequence of behaviour feeding here Marina, looks like that stick wasn't made for the pair

    TFS


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    Lifetime Member Ákos Lumnitzer's Avatar
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    What an amazing thing to witness Marina. Expertly captured. For me the first and second are the strongest of the two. I really like how she is anticipating the handover in the first shot.
    Killer sequence!

  9. #9
    Lifetime Member Marina Scarr's Avatar
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    Thanks for all of the comments. I wish this were full frame, Andre, but this perch was quite far away. I would say it's about a 30% crop. This pair continues to nest in the same park; however, their perch broke off a couple of years ago so they are no longer mating out in the open as they did here. Big bummer! They have one young in the nest right now that will be fledging soon.
    Marina Scarr
    Florida Master Naturalist
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