Waxwing Take Off Pose

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/5.6
1/2500
ISO 3200

I went against my doctors orders, after him telling me to rest my left arm for a while. Hence the reason, recently submitting images from my hide with tripod.

But, when a flock of over 100 Waxwings appear on the outskirts of a local village, well the arm can take a wee while longer to heal. I couldn't miss this opportunity and went handheld.

The flock would all fly onto a rowan tree, where they would eat for about 1 minute, then all would take off together and perch on a high tree about 100 yards away. About 15 minutes later they would come back to feed. This procedure went on all day long. I found the birds difficult to photograph, as they were so fast, and blended into the tree, which made it awkward to get a good BG and separation. I managed to capture this one as it was feeding on berries on a low branch, then took off, along with the rest.

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

love the dynamic pose but the quality isn't there unfortunately, the details are a bit lacking and have a water-color look as a result of too much NR. TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight shot.

Kind Regards,
Satish.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, berries and composition. If the bird was sharper this would have been a killer image. Still a nice image Will.

[keith mitchell]

Very nearly there Will,if this had been sharp you would really have a cracker,well done with what you have got.

Keith.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that, much appreciated

Will