Cattle Egret with nest material

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 7D, Canon 400 f4 DO, monopod
ISO 400, f8, 1/1600s, EC -2, Av mode

[Tin Man Lee]

Great sharpness, sweet light and nice background, and most importantly gigantic branch! Congrat! Nice details on the wing. The wing position is good that it didn't block the view of the long branch.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Pretty amazing, Allen. Fantastic exposure, sharpness, pose and bg. The lumber he's carrying takes it up a notch. Well done!

[Mike Milicia]

This would be a great image even without the mega nesting material but that puts it way over the top for me!
Big congrats!

[Sudhir Shivaram]

Excellent lighting and exposure . I like the wing position and the details captured. The best part is it carrying the long twig. Great behavior captured. Overall a very sweet and a lovely image.

Rgds,
Sudhir

[Tom Rambaut]

Very cool. lots of detail in the bird and the background does not seem too busy. Love the stick.

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent image!

[Arthur Morris]

This is truly superb. The wings down position and the exposure are perfect, as is the framing. The bird's head being ever so slightly angled away from us and the single black area just behind the bird were bad luck; you did everything perfectly.

Where?

Why not hand hold?

Note to Ofer: as you well know we are striving not to become a "great shot" forum; if you like an image please let us know why. For someone with your great skills and knowledge that should not be too difficult to do.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great light and perfect wing position....Large piece of nesting material its carrying:eek:, it really adds to the image...Nice one Allen

[arash_hazeghi]

Wonderful flight shot by all accounts, I love the details and nesting material plus the BG, wing position and head angle are excellent. you have a winner!

[Allen Sparks]

Arthur, this was taken near Lafayette, Louisiana at Jefferson Island. I did not hand hold the shot as I am very comfortable using the monopod with mongoose head. This was an evening shot and I had shot all morning hand held on a guided trip and was feeling some fatigue as well. I can hand hold the 400 DO comfortably for a time but it gets heavy for me after some time.

Thank you and everyone else for your comments on my photo...

Allen

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Allen. Not a day goes by when I do not learn something new :). I still love the image. Are there spoonbills nesting at the site?

[Allen Sparks]

Arthur, yes there are some Roseates there. Mainly saw Cattle egret, Snowies, Little Blue Heron, and some Roseates.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks again. I believe that I have heard of the place. Does getting there involve a boat ride?

[Allen Sparks]

No boat ride but it is on private land and we had to get permission.

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, that's the place. I hope to get there one of these years. Thanks again.