Bringing Home Dinner

[Don Lacy]

Male Snail Kite Heading back to the nest to feed the youngsters

1DMKIII, 400 f/4 DO, 1/2500 at f/5.6, Manual Mode, Evaluative Metered, cropped

[Randy Stout]

Don:

That is one big snail he is taking home!

Great tail display, like that the snail is clear of the bird, no merge.

In a perfect world, would prefer the far wing up a bit more.

In general I like sky images to be grounded in some fashion, by tree, or horizon, but the bird is so far from the horizon here, that I might try a version cropped without it. Will be interesting to see what others think.

Cheers

Randy

PS: I couldn't resist a little tweak, moved the horizon up a bit. Just an option personal taste

[Don Lacy]

[QUOTE]That is one big snail he is taking home!/QUOTE]

This is an exotic snail not a true Florida Apple Snail at first the Kites were having trouble with trying to eat them since they are so big but since the state put out platforms for the birds to land on they are adjusting to the new prey

[arash_hazeghi]

love the fanned tail and the snail good light too. There is too much separation/empty space between the SK and the tree line below, I would go for a tight crop to shows the details cropping off the tree line.

[dankearl]

Super light, Don, I agree with a bigger crop, the horizon just doesn't have much interest.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like the image with the fanned tail and the birds expression. Would do without the tree line ang go tighter

[gail bisson]

Wow! Love the light and the fanned tail and the determined look on this guy's face.
I think I would like it tighter and do like the way Randy moved up the treeline to ground the image.
An excellent shot Don,
Gail

[rajojomanik]

So fitting the name Snail Kite with that Apple Snail in tow. We tried last year on a very windy overcast day with much luck on Lake Toho.

I too would do without the tree line.

[Ofer Levy]

Nice image. I much prefer the original.

[Colin Knight]

love those red eyes!! The horizon doesn't do anything for me either, guess that's pretty unanimous. Great techs, love the sharpness. Great job and nice to see the DO lens at work.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Don, love the light, and you have captured excellent detail - sharp too. Amazing to see the position of the tail, and that snail looks like its going to feed his family and his neighbour's. With such a narrow tree line, I would crop tighter, but Randy's version narrowing the distance does work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What I love most about this image is the fanned tail almost as wide as the wing...very cool! I would have preferred the original had the tree line been 3-4 times as thick.

[J van Noordwyk]

Agree with the treeline a lovely pose and good detail a good image Don well captured.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great pose fine detail, the tree line is of little consequence to me, my attention is purely on the bird, I don't find it distracting.