Least Tern Dance

Gallery: AvianPosted June 20, 2011156 views13 comments

Took a trip to the Least Tern colony by my house which is only accessible via kayak. There is some vegetation on the spit of sand so I can stay almost entirely concealed and the birds can be at bay which is a rare thing when you are talking Least Terns. This bird was getting "goosed" by another in a territory dispute.

Nikon D300s 300 f4 + 1.7X TC HH lying down
f/10
1/1000s
ISO 640
-.33 EC

Full Frame, minor clone job of OOF vegetation

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on June 20, 2011 at 9:52 PM

Luke, I love this image and even more after I read your description of what was going on. The catch light on both terns and the sand kicking up just entertains me. We have a couple of very small colonies near me but they are fenced off and you cannot get near them so I appreciate you posting these images a lot.

Thanks, Harry

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on June 20, 2011 at 10:02 PM

VERY cool!!! LOVE the flying sand!
Too bad the left tern is in the shadow of the first, but still a great image!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Verdon on June 20, 2011 at 11:13 PM

Awesome job Luke, love the action.....

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on June 21, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Luke ..this is fantastic ..and love every bit of it ..love the banded BG ..well done ..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on June 21, 2011 at 3:11 AM

I love the exceptionally low angle you shot this from Luke, as well as the frozen action including those grains of sand caught in midair. Very nice indeed :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on June 21, 2011 at 7:43 AM

I like the action and the nice sharp face on the forward bird. The sand flying adds IMO. The BG is nice too. To my eye it looks like the shot was overexposed in camera (whites of the breast and forehead of the front bird) and you needed to apply quite a bit of recovery in ACR to try and get them back in line. Worked pretty well, but it does show a bit to me. Then again, I could be completely off base. Nice image overall.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on June 21, 2011 at 9:25 AM

Ron,

I didn't apply 1 bit of recovery to this image. A look at the exif should show that. Normally I would but I simply forgot - no whites were blown in camera.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on June 21, 2011 at 9:30 AM

I loveto watch the terns courting. The moving sand and raised foot are great and I love the bg.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on June 21, 2011 at 12:43 PM

Luke, I do not have a way to check EXIF data of other's images. I just look and comment on what I think I see. Like I said in my comment, I may be completely off on my comment. If you say there was no recovery used then no recovery was used. In that case, I might bring down the whites brightest whites just a bit, or reduce the contrast of those areas a bit. Nice shot.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on June 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM

Great action, Luke. I love the low angle and the flying sand really adds a nice touch to this one.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Conway on June 21, 2011 at 10:48 PM

Terrific shot Luke. It holds ones attention, and that is high praise.