A fishy for my sweety....

[Geoff Newhouse]

Part of the Arctic Tern's (and other tern's) courtship is for the male to deliver fish to his lady as she admires his flight and fishing skills from her selected perch. Along the Yukon River right in downtown Whitehorse we have a small colony of Arctic terns that breed on islands in the middle of the river. This shot was one of many I managed to get of the ritual. The Arctic terns are extremely tolerable of people getting close and allow you to sit within about 4 meters without taking off.

This was shot in natural light, manual exposure, 1DX, 300 f/2.8 IS II, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400, handheld.

Hope you like, appreciate any and all C&C.

[Randy Stout]

Geoff:

Interaction well captured, with excellent details, strong wing and tail position, sharp.

The color harmony between the background and the males primaries, very good.

I could see a slight change in the crop, sliver off the left, bit more on right, just based on position of the birds within the frame.

Cheers

Randy

[keith mitchell]

Just a slight head turn on the flying bird would have taken this right to the top,feather detail and colours are superb, great work.

Keith.

[Karen Pleasant]

Perfect timing on this one! The position of the male's wings and tail are superb. And the fish he is offering is well positioned also. And she has a very nice HA and open mouth. Ah.....a beautiful courtship and a beautiful image! Agree about the slight crop adjustment, but all in all, a wonderful image.

[Alan Murphy]

Love the perspective on this angle. A fine image.

[adrian dancy]

My thought is the same as Alan's. Although the head of the top bird is pointing away, the form of the bird and the lovely and exceptional wing display make that issue a fair compromise IMHO. A 10/10 image for me:)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Geoff, great interaction, and well timed for the offering of the fish. Good DOF throughout the image, sharp, and well exposed. Comp wise, the ideal comp has been mentioned above. Well captured.

[dankearl]

Really nice....
The angle of the birds is perfect for the action displayed and the IQ is exceptional.