Dove and Cactus Fruit

[Scott Frye]

White-winged Dove at Gilbert Water Ranch (Gilbert, Arizona)

The red stain on this dove's face is not part of the markings of the dove. The red is stain from the cactus fruit that he is feeding on. You can see a red slash on the fruit by his shoulder. The fruit has not opened so he made a slash in the shell to get to the fruit. Most of the fruit is at the top of the 8-10 foot high cactus and the doves spend a lot of time chasing each other off the perches.

1/3200 at f6.3 and ISO 800 EC +1/3
Bigma at 500mm
Canon 40D

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The forehead looks pretty messy. :) Thanks for explaining the behavior. I like the head angle and setting. The light is a bit harsh and I would try to get more details in the shadows. Considering the shutter speed, you could have stopped down some more.

[Morkel Erasmus]

agree with Axel on the harsh light and more DOF needed here. still an interesting shot, never seen these doves down here :)

[Steve Canuel]

I like the look from the bird and the way you've used the cactus to anchor the right side.