Belted Kingfisher

[David Salem]

We were fortunate to have this beautiful female Kingfisher stay for a week or two in a localized area last year. She was busy catching dragonfly larva and wasn't as skittish as most of the KFrs I have come across. We got lots of beautiful frames of her as she was quite cooperative. This was shot as she left the hunting perch.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/3200th---ISO640---HH from truck@7:20am---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight shot. Superb wings up, beautiful colors, great details, and nice composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[keith mitchell]

David can't make any suggestions on improvement this looks about perfect to me,slight blur on the wing adds movement which I like.

Keith.

[William Dickson]

Fab looking frame David. Beautiful detail and colours on the bird which fits nicely with the BG.

Well done and TFS.

Will

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, well timed for the take off, and just love the overall light and IQ in this. Tack sharp, and thats a killer BG too.

Beats any KF image Ive ever posted here.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Stu, thanks for your nice comment but you have posted some pretty awesome KF frames over the years here too. We have been kidding with each other over the years about trading my Raptors for your KFrs but I finally got a cooperative one for the first time in my life last year
Sure hope she shows up again this year.
Thanks again

[Mike Hitchen]

A beautiful image, David with excellent wing position and so sharp!

[Doug Brown]

Killer KF shot Dave! Maximum wings up, great sharpness, and a BG that lets you focus on the bird.

[Robert Kimbrell]

A beautiful frame David. The KF really pops off that background. I like the wing position and and sharpness.

[gail bisson]

Well done!!
Love the clean BG and the wing position.
Good on you for finding a cooperative KF! I am jealous.
Love the tack sharp bill and eye,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

It has all been said but this one deserves me saying it again. All is just perfect. Great take off pose that has perfect details against a beautiful and varied background. I'd love to have a shot like this of one of these guys. In NY they never and I mean never let you get anywhere near them. No place that I know of to approach in a car either. There is 1 bird that allows remotely close approach but it is always against a terrible background and wrong light. So I don't think I will ever get a kingfisher shot. Until then I will just stare at yours...

[David Salem]

It has all been said but this one deserves me saying it again. All is just perfect. Great take off pose that has perfect details against a beautiful and varied background. I'd love to have a shot like this of one of these guys. In NY they never and I mean never let you get anywhere near them. No place that I know of to approach in a car either. There is 1 bird that allows remotely close approach but it is always against a terrible background and wrong light. So I don't think I will ever get a kingfisher shot. Until then I will just stare at yours...

Thanks everyone!

Isaac,

I completely understand!! Until this bird came into my life I hadn't been able to get anywhere near one of these guys either. I even went three times last year, to a location two hours each way from me, only to get skunked each time.
The regular KF that was there each day the day before never showed up. What the %#@!

Hope you get the chance sometime. I think the only real good way is to find a bird that is hunting in a spot and then set up a blind. Otherwise you have to rely on fate.

Thanks again

[Mike Poole]

Absolutely top notch Dave, ticks just about every box there is to tick!

Mike

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty David! Perfect wing position, IQ, details, BG and composition.

[Bill Nuttall]

simple - superb image

[arash_hazeghi]

awesome frame Dave, makes everybody jealous!

[Tim Foltz]

Dave sweet inflight of this shy female, nice BG, wing position, and details.

-Tim

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I'm glad you like the frame.