Snail Kite vs Boat-Tail Grackle

[Don Lacy]

Was able to get out and spend some time with Snail Kites the other day and was lucky enough to get this fight between a Kite and Grackle

Canon 5DMKIV, 500 f/4, 1/8000s at f/7.1, Manual Mode , Evaluative metered, ISO 800, HH, Processed in PS

[Noel Heustis]

Don - wow that's some pretty awesome action you captured here. It's amazing that both birds have all of their primaries, secondaries, and tail feathers so fully extended out in unison. The shot is beautifully composed and certainly creates an immediate impact.

[Mitch Carucci]

Fantastic juxtaposition!

[John Mack]

Great capture. The pose on both birds is excellent. Like the clouds in the background.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful Capture. I really like the wing position and the clouds in the backgroud.

Thanks for sharing

[Lorant Voros]

These interactions are always fun to see and even better when one can capture it with the camera. Good spread wings from both birds and happy to see the fluffy clouds there too. TFS.

[John Whaley]

Don - wow that's some pretty awesome action you captured here. It's amazing that both birds have all of their primaries, secondaries, and tail feathers so fully extended out in unison. The shot is beautifully composed and certainly creates an immediate impact.

Agreed - The fully extended and upturned wing feather tips really work in this image and the clouds add to it. I don't see much detail in the darker areas and am guessing the image was captured at a distance and not much detail available. The open peak on the kite adds.

[Don Lacy]

Agreed - The fully extended and upturned wing feather tips really work in this image and the clouds add to it. I don't see much detail in the darker areas and am guessing the image was captured at a distance and not much detail available. The open peak on the kite adds.

The underwings were in shadows from the exposure for the sky the sun had ducked behind some clouds also the image was under exposed by a stop which is no big deal for the 5DMKIV I can try to pull more detail out of them. The image is only cropped from the left for the composition.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Wonderful wing position of both birds. The image tells a story. Not sure what more you could do with the dark birds against a bright sky. Thank you for sharing, Don.

[arash_hazeghi]

classic snail kite and grackle harassment shot, wish you had posted this one larger, too small on my monitor to see the details but from what it looks like it is a sweet shot, both birds are a bit dark and can be lifted by about a stop. reminds me of a similar shot I got in FL many years ago from Jim's boat.

well done