Red-billed Tropicbird redux

[Bill Dix]

Espanola, Galapagos, May 2010. Love these birds. I posted another frame from this sequence back in 2010. This frame, taken a second later, was not quite as sharp as the earlier one, but offered a better dorsal view; and hopefully my PP skills have improved a bit since then. Not sure if this addresses the intent of this month's theme, but is a kick to go back and discover old unprocessed images. C&C appreciated.

D90, 80-400 VR @ 370mm, ISO 400, 1/2000s @ f/7.1, -1.0 EV, HH

[Jim Fenton]

What a stunning creature!

Love the dorsal view against the water.

The eye markings are great....love the long tail and since I've always been a sucker for contrast, this one floats my boat :)

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent top side view and nice water in the BG, IQ is not great however, the 80-400 is not a good performer for flight. If you want quality shots you have to use your 500 there is no way around it.

[James Salywoda]

Sweet shot Bill very beautifully captured....

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Awesome frame alltogether . But agree with Arash on the IQ.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, well exposed, and a good top view captured here. I do like that long tail, and the bird is separated nicely from the BG.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all. I certainly agree about the IQ and the lens. As a "travel lens", the 80-400 is a compromise at best. (And in any case I didn't have the 500 when I took this.)

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Bill, incredible shot....a beautiful bird over beautiful water. I like your crop...and yes, the dorsal view is indeed special.

[Bill Dix]

Bill, incredible shot....a beautiful bird over beautiful water. I like your crop...and yes, the dorsal view is indeed special.

Thanks KD.

[Rhys Marsh]

Great shot, I was recently there myself and wasn't lucky enough to capture an image as good as this one. Can be a tricky bird as they always seem to just zoom past with somewhere to go that is very far away from where you are...