Anticipation

Gallery: AvianPosted June 20, 2013287 views9 comments

This is another capture from the same outing as my previous photo of the Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) family. I was there yesterday too, but they were too far from shore and the light was poor.

Unless I counted the chicks incorrectly (I counted a total of 2), the smaller chick up front is about 35 minutes old. It looks quite active to me.

This is as low as I could get (hidden in a bush) without risking to stress the birds.

I ran out of pixels on the left after leveling the image and decided to "compensate" by cutting off a sliver off the bird on the right, and have selected a pano-style crop to focus on the feeding action.

Canon 7D, Sigma 150-500 at 403 mm, f/10, ISO 400, 1/200 sec, + 2/3 EV, monopod, natural light, LR5, PS-CC and NIK suite.

Large version is provided.

All comments are much appreciated. Thanks for looking and thanks for all your comments on my other photos.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on June 20, 2013 at 10:17 AM

That's beautiful Roger. The 2 chicks are nice and sharp as is the bird on the right. The wonderful markings on the chicks show up very well too. Nice exposure, nice colours.
The crop works for me as the eye is drawn to the action in the centre.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on June 20, 2013 at 4:47 PM

Great shot! The moment you captured is unique!

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on June 20, 2013 at 6:44 PM

Great capture of the precious moment, Roger.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on June 20, 2013 at 10:28 PM

A classic and a nice way of showing the typical behavior of this species. Maybe I would have liked to have both birds 100% in the frame (or all 4 I must say

). well done, cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on June 21, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Wonderful capture! Excellent look at these Grebes and their tiny chicks. Very nicely done!

Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on June 21, 2013 at 2:20 PM

Wonderful interaction Roger. Great image.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on June 21, 2013 at 4:27 PM

Oh, my gosh! What a close shot! With beaks right in my face, I couldn't even get where the chicks were that you were talking about!

How cool; they are sooooo cute with the wild looking stripes on their heads. Just the right size minnow picked out for one of them, too. Congrats on an amazing shot!

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on June 23, 2013 at 8:54 AM

Real nice capture and I think your crop works well, putting the emphasis on feeding the chicks. Is that raw looking spot in front of the chick's eye normal? Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on June 24, 2013 at 12:42 PM

Thanks all for your heart warming comments. Sharon, these spots are normal. I have seen them in all photos and in the books. Sometimes they seem to be more intense, sometimes less. I don't know that they are raw rather than just not covered with feathers. This may serve for visual communications with the parents. I remember reading that one of the grebe chicks (not the RNG and I forget which one) has a yellow spot on the forehead that turns red when the chick is hungry or alarmed. I could not find a similar comment about the spots on the RNG chicks. Roger

Note added June 30: Found it again. It's the Western Grebe chicks that have a spot on the forehead that changes color.

Registered on March 6, 2011, 95 Posts, 847 Comments