Whistling Kite

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

A fairly common raptor around our local waterways and this one was checking out our scraps while we were moored up
having lunch in a small cove north of Sydney.

These hawks have the most wonderful whistle-like call that IMO is the nicest call of our local diurnal raptors.

5D3, 600/1.4x, HH
manual mode
ISO 800, f/8, 1/1600th
no crop at all from the RAW capture
I usually use only the center AF point without any assist points
for maximum focus precision.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice under wing details and eye contact in soft light but I wish the shooting angle wasn't steep. generally, having the bird at eye level makes a big difference as opposed to shooting from under him

TFS

[William Dickson]

Very nice control of the shadows Akos. The detail on the bird is looking good against the nicely coloured BG. Love the facial expression

Will

[Randy Stout]

Akos:

Just enough variation in the clouds to give it a bit of depth. Nice tilt in the frame. I might be tempted to crop a modest amount off the top to have the wings work the diagonal of the frame.

Cheers

Randy

[Ian Wilson]

Lovely detail under the wings despite being in shadow. It is the typical overhead glide and frustrating that one rarely gets a chance at eye-level with these guys. Good work Akos, regards, Ian.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Eye level is my preference too. However, Ian is correct. It is very rare to get these hawks at eye level.
Only with baiting, which we also did and have some less typical WK views and pics.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

[Geoff Newhouse]

Good flight shot. Good details and sky has some detail and not blown white so that is a plus. Of course as others have said, a better angle to subject would be ideal.

TFS
Geoff

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the menacing stare here, and neat gliding-in pose. Like Randy I also like the subtle hint of clouds.

[keith mitchell]

That's a great staring pose and I like the clenched talons, looks like a fine flight pose to me.

Keith.

[Arthur Morris]

I am fine with the relatively overhead view and the wonderful opening up of the shadows. You are a greatly improved photographer. a