A couple of male great bustards from the past year in Extremadura (Western Spain) during my long session of 14 hours inside the blind. Not my sharpste image but I love the raised tails (that is an obvious sign of courtship in great bustards), the alert-like posture of the necks and the hanging wings of the guy in the left :)
Juan, great interaction and I love the colors on these big birds. Exposure looks great and I like the oof flowers underneath them. 14 hours in a blind! I hope you bring some food with you, and maybe a bucket.:D Congrats.
Juan, stunning scene, I love the light and low angle, great colors and detail, I would crop a little from bottom but as presented works just fine.
Congratulations!
peter, do not worry I have you on mind and soon I will send you information to help planning your trip.
Brian, 14 hours in a blind is a looong time and yes you have to bring food, water, a book, MP3 player, clothes, a mobile-phone to talk with your neigbourghs and many more things... :p
Some additional images of the blind from the present season. Inside is my friend Juanma and in the upper image it is possible to see the frontal glass of his Canon 500f4
It was really funny. After five hours in the hide he was sleeping when a lot of lambs arrived at the hide. Then I took my mobile phone and called to him. "Hey, buddy, wake up you have a lot of bustards around you..." :D:D:D
Unfortunatelly for me I had no luck with the bustards that day while Juanma was really successfull. :o
I remember your earlier images of these guys. I like the interaction and these birds look great. Maybe a slightly higher color temperature and a bit CW rotation. I might crop a tad off the bottom.
The image with all those cute lambs around your blind made me smile. Thanks for sharing. :)
I like your image Juan. great display and exposure of the colours. I would also crop some off the bottom and play a bit with the colour temperature as Axel suggested.
Nice hide Juan and a nice image. 14 hours is a long time, but hey, this is nature photography. On Planet Erath's Birds of Paradise project the film maker spent about 300 hours in the hide to capture those moments shown in the movie.
Fantastic birds and great interaction. Nice light and colors. I like the foreground and BG a lot. Congratulations.
I like the behaviour captured in this Juan, and these guys have lovely detail and colours on them. Killer FG, and BG. Well captured. BTW, thanks for sharing the hides with us.
Thank you all for the comments.
Lorant I would be more than happy to invest 300 hours in a blind just to have a glimpse of the Lawe´s bird of paradaise (Parotia lawesii) performing its amazind courtship display :). BBC´s "Planet Earth" is one of the best documetary series that I have ever seen.
Many people would think that we area litle bit crazy spending 14 hours waiting for the birds in a blind that is about 150cm tall. With some luck you would have the bi¡ustards close enought to get the images that you want but it is unpredictable. I have been in those blinds two times. The first one I was succesfull (half an hour and 13,5 hours with no bustards). The second time I have not a single oportunity to photograph them because they were very far, around the stone blind in which my friend was waiting. I have a lot of images of the kind "landscape with a small bustard in the lower left corner :D). It is a matter of luck but the amount of excitement while you are waiting for the birds and the intense emotions that you feel when you see those birds inthe viewfinder is... its is hard to describe but it is priceless.
Fabs the blind it is not in the same league of a Hilton for sure (no room service ;)) but it is amazing how many interesting things you can view from that bunch of ancient stones. Several of these blinds are made with stones by shepherds, in fact they wer originally shepherd´s shelter but now, they are used for photography. This kind of constructions has been part of the cultural landscape of the area during hundreds of years. The first time I went to thhese blinds I had a family of shrews living between the stones, a litle owl pair nesting in the blind, and lots of birds availables to my binoculars: litle bustards, hopooe, a golden eagle, kestrel, sandgrouse and, of course.... the lambs
very nice shot Juan,nice light and comp,introduced these here in uk Salesbury plains,I think they bred and hatched this year,first time in over 100years I think .thanks.
Juan
An amazing image for starters. I love it. I read about how difficult it is to nail these guys. Your dedication is boundless man. I admire that very much. Thanks so much for sharing and for the info about the hides. :)
Very nice interaction in this shot Juan, I sure would like to come over and photograph these beauties! Love the BG, colours and HT of the right bird. The poses make this one for me. Would have wished for a slightly higher shooting angle here. Would suggest to crop some of the bottom and would get rid of the cyan/blue cast in your shot. A very very nice shot Juan!
Great bustards (Otis tarda)
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