Photographed on Machias Island. The light was rather harsh but I found it interesting how differently shaped the right and left side of the head was. Any idea how this happens?
Beautiful despite the bright sun. The bird looks quite forlorn. Not sure which side of the head is "normal." All in all, very well done as usual.
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Hi Axel,
Nice colorful, sharp portrait. Do all puffins have this variation in left/right side? If so, maybe it's similar to an owl's ears being slightly off level to allow for better hearing and it allows puffins to better gauge their prey's position in the water? Then again, maybe his parents just sat on his head to much when he was a baby.
Steve
Beautiful portrait.
One possible explanation for the difference in right & left portion is that perhaps they can orient their eyes independent of each other (i.e. independent of left & right eye). One eye looks sidewards & the other forwards.
Am not sure.... just guessing !
If you've ever taken a frontal image of your face, split it down the middle and removed one half of it, then mirror flipped the remaining half to make your face "complete" again you would see how scary we are all non-symmetrical!?! It's also funny to repeat the exercise with the other half too!
Beautiful photograph Axel. I like it from all aspects.
I think the asymmetry in the throat markings is coming from the bird turning its head at an extreme angle. It appears from the image that puffins are able to move their eyes independently of each other. During a trip to a colony in June I noticed that gannets were able to do this as well.
I love everything about this image Axel. I kick myself when I think of Machias Seal Island. I lived not too far away, in St. Andrews New Brunswick, for 8 years in total and never went to see the puffins. :(
Fantastic portrait Axel, not the better light conditions but the DOF is fantastic. Asymmetry is a very common trait in nature and, like Daniel pointed out, the human face is just a good example of that. Maybe this is the result of some kind of puffin/kick-boxing :D
Atlantic Puffin
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