Bosque White-Tailed Kite Pair

[James Prudente]

Morning of November 1, 2010, south of the flight deck on the west side of the the tour loop road.

Canon 7D, 1.4x II, 600 f4L IS, f8, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, partial metering, AWB, about 8:30 am, bean bag on the hood of the truck.

Jim

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

even without seeing in photoshop I believe you got some hotspots in the whites. nice to see the pair posing. did you have a chance to take a couple of steps to the right? that would have given you nicer separation of both kites and the two perches upon which they sit. is this a big crop? just asking as I am not seeing much detail.
thanks for sharing :)

[James Prudente]

No hot spots in my PSCS 5 raw image. A few steps in any direction would have resulted in no image at all, these are wild birds in their natural element and not what you would call user friendly. The birds were 98.3 meters away.

Jim

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

My eyes may be wrong. But levels don't lie. :D IAC, you can introduce clipping during jpeg conversion. That's all.

[James Prudente]

Thanks, I'll research what is going on here. My Info shows nothing over 255.

Jim

[Lana Hays]

Oh I sure hope they stick around until I can get there at Thanksgiving.....what gorgeous birds. The images do appear to be hot....but what incredible birds.

[Arthur Morris]

JPEGS are often more contrasty than the TIFFs..... Good work by Akos above. If you had driven the truck up a bit before stopping that would have helped the COMP as AL suggested and in addition, would have given you a better sun angle as well.

[James Prudente]

The birds were in the air and I got some flight shots before they landed. I would have had to get in the truck and back up a truck length or two to get into the position you all suggest. Some times we have to take them where we find them and do the best we can with what we are given.

Thanks for the comments.

Jim

[Arthur Morris]

James, when we critique it is with the understanding that our suggestions might not be feasible :) We are just trying to help folks make better images.

Are these the new snags that they put in? I do not recognize them.

ps: I have never seen this species in 16 years of mid-NOV visits. I did see a male Prothonotary Warbler once on a 19 degree day!

[James Prudente]

These are very small snags are on the west side of the road to the flight deck. They are actually west of the canal and canal maintenance road along the edge of the narrow pond area north of the check-in kiosk, they have been in place for several years and are frequented by Kestrels, Northern Harriers, Ravens and Crows. In the 7 years that we have been coming to Bosque del Apache we had never seen this species. They were reported there last year and earlier this fall.

White Geese numbers are increasing and Cranes numbers are creeping up as well. Duck population is growing daily, large number of Northern Pintail and Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Green-Winged Teal, a mix of diver species, 2 or 3 Bald Eagles, 1 Golden Eagle, Cooper's, Sharpshined, Kestrels, Merlins, Red-Tailed and Northern Harriers are all in attendance. A smattering of Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, American Pipits and all the usual sparrows, black bird, Crows, Ravens, Mule Deer, Elk, Javelinas are present too. Haven't seen any of the larger falcons to date. We will be here until our departure for Tucson on Sunday.

Cheers,

Jim

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info James.

[Bonnie Block]

Jim and Artie, I saw the kites last year during my early Dec trip--on hwy 1 north of the visitors center.
They are rarely near the road in that location. I took an id image at that time. Took this sighting to jog my memory that I had seen them before.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Bonnie. We will keep our eyes peeled.