Atlantic Puffin with shrimp at Machias Seal Island, offshore of Maine.
Atlantic Puffin
Atlantic Puffin with shrimp at Machias Seal Island, offshore of Maine.
Last edited by Herb Houghton; 08-29-2008 at 11:12 AM. Reason: cleaned up bgd
Herb, a superb first post, congrats! Tack sharp head and bill and love the shrimp details. EXP could possibly be increased slightly. The BKGR dark/light line on the right side is mildly distracting, maybe a little PS work could blend the transition so it looks more like the left? Welcome, look forward to seeing more great posts!
What, no sand eels? Every picture I see of Puffins with the obligatory mouth-full features sand eels. The shrimp make this photograph different and interesting.
I didn't know they caught shrimp!!!
The water drops are awesome, although I find the BG a bit distracting.
Love this image and the wonderful exposure and clarity. The waterdroplets add a lot to this image but the shrimp put it over the top for me. Great work !!!
Does anyone know how they can get so many prey in one mouthful? I would think that would be hard with a stiff beak. I have never seen these in the wild.
Thanks,
Chris
Super image. Love the detail in the entire shot especially the shrimp. Congrats!
Lovely image. ideally I would have liked to see the head up a little.
Sorry for the pedantry but the animals in the puffins's bill are krill, scientific name Meganictiphanes norvegica. Krill are in a different family (Euphasidae) than shrimp but they are all crustacea.
At Machias Seal Island, Herring and other fish appear harder to get these days for the seabirds there, and they resort to eating krill, which are not at nutritious. One big problem with krill is that they have massive amounts of Fluoride in their shells, which can be toxic if the food is not processed and voided quickly.
The answer is they don't. Each prey item is likely seized on its own. Puffins and other seabirds have projections on the roof of their mouth and tongue which point backwards. These projections hold the prey items in place while others are being seized. The record I had in my puffin study colony in Newfoundland some years ago was 82 small fish in one puffin mouthful!Originally Posted by mczink
Hi Herb,
Welcome to the BPN family. I like your composition. The colors are great, you have good details and the shrimps are a bonus...:) I do find the eye just a tad on the soft side and the two tone background a bit distracting. The upper black layer takes my eyes away from your subject. In addition, the head would have been better if it were up just a tad. I modified your image to incorporate the following: I added canvas to the right side of the frame, and I cropped from the left side to off set your bird just a wee bit. I cloned out the blacks and replaced it with the even silky smooth gray. This makes your bird stand out more, and focuses the attention on him...Hope you like...:cool:
P.S. I also sprinkled a 12% selective sharpening on the eye, bill, and shrimps...:D
Welcome to BPN. What a fabulous first post! It is such a pleasure to see an image of a puffin with a beak full of krill instead of the same old sand eels. Love the water drops on the head and the pose. I prefer the layered background color in the original post...it compliments the birds coloration well IMO. I am cerrtainly looking forward to seeing more of your posts. Don't forget the techs!
John - thanks for the explanation - it is great to have you around! (And a fellow Canadian, too, from where my father grew up).
Chris
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