Southern Carmine Bee-eater

[Nevil Lazarus]

Resident in Australia for over 30 years, I have family in South Africa, and am fortunate to visit Africa every year.
In October, I went to Caprivi, in Namibia, specifically to see and photograph breeding Carmines, skimming Skimmers, and Rock Pratincoles. The Carmines were magnificent and we located 3 large breeding colonies, and spent lots of time in great light, on lovely rivers. This picture was taken on the Okavango River, in Namibia, before it travels south to get lost in the sands of the Kalahari.
Canon 1Dmk3 500F4 ISO 800 1/2000 F4

[Dave Barnes]

Lovely mood captured Nevil. Great fun to capture these birds. Colours very well captured and I like the comp and pose. I would have preferred to see the bird flying towards you but still a great image.

[Rod Warnock]

Superb image, Neville !! Everything to like about it. Like the flow through the image and composition.

Best regards
Rod Warnock

[Ofer Levy]

This must be one of the best bird images I have ever seen - amazing stuff Nevil!!

[Clement Francis]

This is the IMW for me, a total winner

[Paul Lagasi]

Wow..the bird, the glow, the wing position, color...everything....love it ....thanks for sharing.

[Tony Whitehead]

Superb, Neville. The colours of the water are just a perfect backdrop to the bird. Only suggestions are possibly a touch of NR on the BG and I would probably remove the isolated blue spot on the water in front of the bird. Great work.

[Harshad Barve]

All said above and agreed , This is absolute winner
TFS

[Mike Veltri]

Wonderful flight shot and pose, love the colors.

[Rob Drummond]

Stunning Neville - perefct wing position and I really like the way the colours of the bird and the water complement each other.

cheers
Rob

[Gerard Satherley]

Superb image Nevil. Wonderful colours and wing position. One of your best.

[Kiran Poonacha]

total winner indeed, nice compo, great pose and subject, loved the BG too.. congrats..

[Danny J Brown]

The is a wonderful image overall, Nevil, and the story adds a lot as well. I wonder where this guy is now? My second favorite part of the image is the way the wings and head are positioned. The color is the first, of course.

[Marc Mol]

Welcome to BPN Nevile from one fellow Aussie to another.
One of my favourite African birds the Carmine BE and you have really done great justice in capturing it in beautiful light and flight pose, superb.
Have spent many hours just watching them in their riverside breeding colonies in the Sth Luangwa and this wonderful light brought back those memories.;)
Thanks for sharing.

[Geurt Bloem]

A lovely image Nevil! I like the general bg colours and then obviously the excellent subject with very nice wing position. I agree with Tony's suggestions.

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Stunning image Nevil!

[Stu Bowie]

Welcome to BPN Nevil. I like the flight angle and wingspread, and overall nice and sharp. Just love the colours in the BG, and agree some NR on the BG will work. Great capture.

[Jim Crosswell]

Everything has been said but to not comment on this beauty would just be wrong. Amazing image!

[Morkel Erasmus]

welcome here Nevil. with images like this you will feel most at home.
just love the BG colours complementing this beautiful bird. they are super fast and acrobatic in the air so just nailing this so sharp is worth a congratulations already.