Rosette Spoonbill Dining

[Phil Ertel]

This image was captured at 66AM on April 09, 2009 while on an excursion on the Alafia Banks in Florida with Captain James Shadle on the Hoopie Deux.

I was observing this bird searching for food when it came up with this item. This was the best image of the action that I captured. Can anyone tell me what the bird is eating? It has red drops coming out of it and appears to be plant material.

The RAW file was converted in ACR and imported then into CS3. I cropped a little off the top/bottom and a little behind the bird. In CS3, I ran shadow/Highlights, adjusted slightly with levels, and ran noise reduction using the Topaz Denoiser plugin. I resized/sharpened and posted.

Thanks for reviewing and special thanks for any comments/critiques.

Regards,

Phil

Image Specifications:
Camera: Canon 50D

Setting:
Manual Mode
f-Stop: 7.1
Shutter speed: 1/1250
ISO: 500

Lens: 500mm IS USM f4.0 plus 1.4x
Tripod: Gitzo GT3540LS with Mongoose 3.5; 4th generation
Flash: not used

[Juan Aragonés]

The exposure job is perfect IMO and the action really interesting (sorry, I can´t help you with identification of the food). I like the low perspective, simmetry of the composition and the nice light. Very good job

[Ed Cordes]

Great exposure in sweet light. The action is super. I don't know what the food is, but my first thought on the red drops was blood, so, could it be a frog or something?

While I generally like reflections, to my eye this one is too OOF and takes my eye away from the main attraction.

[Kobus Tollig]

Great shot here. Great light and angle with good detail. Pity he is going away from you a bit

[Fabs Forns]

Beautiful light and low angle. Food remains a mystery to me, and I also think it's blood or some liquid coming out of a small plastic bottle with a yellow cap.

[Stu Bowie]

Your spoonbills have such an amazing colour. Excellent exposure, and the low angle works very well. Great image Phil.