Avian IOTW Grant Atkinson for week ending 12/17/2010 - Bee Eater Feeding Time - repost

[Roman Kurywczak]

Congratulations Grant Atkinson for your image "Bee Eater Feeding Time - repost" being chosen as the Avain Image of the Week for the week ending 12/17/2010!!!


Canon 7D, 300mm f2.8is lens, monopod. S/speed 1/250s at f7.1, iso 250, Eval metering, Ai Servo, dialled back fill flash used. Cropped from 18 to 12.2mp. Processed in ACR6 and CS5, sharpened selectively. Location Savuti, Botswana. 16 Dec 2010, 15h23.
Southern carmine bee-eater, adult on the RHS, and a recently fledged youngster on the left. These brightly coloured birds are flying about with their youngsters, who are able to fly quite well already but still in the process of learning to hunt insects on the wing. The adult brought this dragonfly as prey for the young bird. I had to use a hint of fill-flash to be able to darken the BG effectively, and it also enabled me to keep the iso low on the 7D. It was partially overcast, with a rather bright white sky.
All C and C welcome.
Grant

www.grantatkinson.com

[denise ippolito]

Grant, Well done Congratulations:)

[Steve Kaluski]

Brilliant Grant, I am very please for you and great timing in all senses of the word.

Congratulations & a very Happy Xmas.

Steve

[Nate Chappell]

Congrats Grant, wonderful interaction!:cool:

[Aidan Briggs]

Congrats Grant!!

[ken dyball]

Grant, fantastic image, one of my favorite of yours

Congrats & Merry xmas

Ken

[Harshad Barve]

Congratulations Grant

[Brendan Dozier]

Wonderful image, and always nice when there something interesting happening. Corgratulations!

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Everyone, and thanks for commenting, it was a wonderful Xmas present for me to get! Carmine bee-eaters are some of my favourite birds (apart from raptors) so I am pleased to be able to show them off a little.
Thanks also for those who helped me with processing the repost
cheers
Grant

[Robert Amoruso]

Congrats. A well deserved win.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Grant, congratulations on a fantastic image:)

[Morkel Erasmus]

huge high-5 for this one Grant!!

[Hilary Hann]

Well done Grant, beautiful image and well deserved recognition.

[philperry]

Lovely example of the 'critical moment' Grant. Well done.

[Grant Atkinson]

thanks for the comments Morkel, Hilary and Phil...
Much appreciated..
cheers
Grant