Common behavior for the common loon - chick begging for food

[Randy Stout]

This interaction was captured ten days ago on a northern Michigan lake. The chick is big enough now to be very demanding, and will whack (slash) at the parents breast and neck to 'encourage' mom or dad to pop another morsel in. Often they will swallow the latest offering, and then immediately repeat the mugging behavior. Its no wonder the adults spend so much time underwater, escape from the teenager!

D4 600VR f/5 1/500s ISO 1250 . Shot from my little boat.

Post: Slight crop from the top, lightened the face of the chick a bit, reduced specular highlights on adults bill.

I liked the strong side lighting and the illuminated throat of the juvi, and of course, the effect it had on brightening the adults eye. No saturation changes or augmentation here.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[keith mitchell]

Teenagers the world over! Just the head and the red eye hold your attention on this one Randy,great bit of interaction.

Keith.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image, Randy. It seems all of the juveniles have the same behavior. At the rookeries I have been to in Florida I have seen egret and heron juveniles acting the same. The parent have a lot of patience. Thank you for sharing.

[Karen Pleasant]

Love the interaction of the chick and adult. The heads of both are nicely focused and the eye of the adult and the mouth of the chick are serious attention getters. Lovely DOF and the water beads on the adults heads a nice bonus! Very well done! TFS!

[Bill Dix]

Great interaction, nicely captured. The eyes have it. I don't know if adding a point or two of black would help it pop? You were rightly concentrating on the interaction, but I could also imagine a lovely image with a slightly looser crop. This time of year the various passerine species around my feeders are experiencing the same harassment from their fledglings.

[Alan Murphy]

Great interaction. I see a strong vertical with just the birds heads.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the comments, and Alan for the crop suggestion.

This is a quick redo. Because the original post was almost full frame, lots of pixels to work with here.

Let me know what you think please

Cheers

Randy

[adrian dancy]

All good but I do prefer the original which is outstanding.

[christopher galeski]

Like them both Randy,great image Qualty,and nice interaction.

[Geoff Newhouse]

Beautiful shot. I like the interaction between the two and how the chick looks to be stimulating the adult's neck as a lot of species do to try to promote feeding. I would consider cropping off some of the bottom and maybe leaving more space above the birds but that is up to you.

TFS
Geoff

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Randy, exquisite light and IQ on parents head, not to mention how you have nailed the exposure. Good interaction from junior, open beak, and I do like how well the blues and browns go together in the overall image. Ive always enjoyed these low angles you achieve from your boat.

I prefer your OP.

[William Dickson]

I love the recrop. Fantastic detail on such a spectacular image

Will

[Diane Miller]

The RP puts me right there in the water! Love it! Gorgeous detail and light! A little off the bottom would work, I think.