Haliastur sphenurus

[greg cowle]

Whistling kite taking off from a recently cut cane field. There can be large numbers of kites, particularly black and whistling, with the occasional brahminy circling around when the harvesters go through, looking to grab whatever animals are exposed. Like all birds in this area they are skittish, but in this case the kite took off when a Wedgie came by, ended up claiming the bandicoot carcass. They know their pecking order.
Canon, 600mm, 1/3200, f5.6, ISO 1600.

[Colin Driscoll]

Very good Greg. Great to get one low and close enough. Great position and clean background.

[Aditya Sridhar]

Awesome shot Greg! The wing position is great and I like the view of the talons. I personally find the green strip slightly distracting but not a deal breaker by any means. I would suggest increasing the exposure by around 0.33 stops and maybe brightening the eye a touch. Great work overall.

[Alex Becker]

What a beauty Greg. Love the BG, pose, and the claws. I would also suggest a boost in EXP and a bit more NR at least on the green bit of the BG. TFS

[Moe Richard]

Well composed with wonderful detail for iso 1600. Wonderful background and wing position.

[annmpacheco]

hi, wonderful IQ, what is a bandicoot please? Excellent capture, nice look at underwing details. Nice colors throughout, maybe more green strip to balance and increase that exp...

[gail bisson]

Very nice Greg.
I would boost the exposure a bit.
I love the clean BG and I am Ok with the green strip at the top.
I like the HA and the IQ on the bird very much.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific take-off pose and flight angle. Yes to a bit of NR on the BG. Some posterization appearing.

[dankearl]

Great flight pose.. A bit of NR is needed on the BG, but that is the only nit from me.

[Mervyn Marsh]

Very nice shot of a whistler, like the flight pose and nice light as there are no shadows on the bird, looks really cool, Cheers, Merv

[Dorian Anderson]

As good a flat light result as you're gonna get. Exposure is really nice across the bird and the background is super (could do a bit more NR as suggested). Head angle and talons look good as well. Very nice.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose with the dangling feet and the view of the talons. Agree with NR on the BG

TFS

[greg cowle]

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. Some consolidated responses:
Yes, the light is flat. In my region that is normally better than direct sunlight, there is no sweet light deep in the tropics. In addition, being so close to the light-colored ground I think what reflection there is has really helped the even lighting.
Upping the exposure a little - I had played with the amount suggested, but the whites started to look to bright, even though not blown. I will play with an adjustment with local variation on the whites to see if I can improve.

Ann: a bandicoot is a stocky marsupial about 30-40cm long. Enough meat to interest the eagles. They just don't bother with the smaller animals the kites can get after the harvesters go through.