Eyes Bigger Than Stomach

Great catch! Perfect angle, delightful chick with a bright eye, and nice fish.
Something is a little funky with the processing - perhaps you tried some noise reduction, but that rarely works with birds, where the feather/down detail is critical. With birds, the NR kind of runs things together and the detail is lost. Or maybe it's just a larger crop than your pixels can handle?
Sandy

That's pretty funny, Marina. I dunno, I am looking at this very closely and I don't see the issues that Sandy mentions. What a great pose and great moment you caught here.

I'm in the middle. I think I see what Sandy is talking about, but I'm not sure it's NR. What would work, or at least give us something to work with, would be techs and a larger (1200 x n pixels) image. Even further, some significant note on how the processing was handled. I do think this is quite a picture. Could the detail-less places on the down be the result of too much highlight/shadow, burning to compensate for really harsh light? Was this a jpeg image image or RAW? All of the above are pertinent to a good critique.

Great job on this, Marina. It certainly looks too big for the chick, but chicks of all varieties seem to be 99% belly. I do see the areas that Sandy is talking about.

Well taken Marina! Great capture of the action. I do not see the areas discussed. I do think it would be good if you could get a bit of separation between the chicks head and the BG. I would like to have seen your tech info, it helps when making comments to have the details. Thanks for sharing a really neat photo.

Wonderful catch, both the dinner and the photograph. Love how he had to sit down for this with his feet sticking up. Very cool!

Marina: Very cute image! Gotta love those feet. I'm not seeing the concern with Noise Reduction that has been commented on. My only suggestion would be to brighten the image up just a touch. It feels just a tad under to me, but easily adjusted. I think this is an extremely compelling image.

Hey Marina,
What a moment you captured, this is a real conversation starter image if ever there was one. An image were the cute factor out weighs the tech factor by a good margin. IMO the concerns that have been mentioned could simply be motion blur and the fact that the closeness in color between the subject and BG makes for a difficult separation with the very shallow depth of field used here.
This chick reminds me of a chick I dated in College, (wait for it)
She used to Kick Up Her Tootsies too . . .

Mike, she did this when you fed her fish??

Outstanding image Marina ! Wonderful light, great sharpness and detail (on my screen I see noting out of the ordinary) but that's all nothing compared to the action itself... You couldn't wish for anything more, the pose of the chick says it all... A winner !! , Hans

Wow...I have never photographed these Marina, so never even knew they tried to eat regular food at this age (as opposed to regurgitated meals form parents). Absolutely love this image...very unique and thanks for sharing this.
I am also not seeing the NR issue being mentioned (but a large version would help with trying to see details since I am getting older ).

Fun image. Love the action and the light. Dave

Hi Marina, hope all is well. Just joined and its nice to see your work here. What a little glut. That's a fun shot and I too like the feet up and the sand being tossed in the air. Very nice. Take care

Thanks to all who commented and critiqued. This is a large crop which is why the IQ isn't perfect. However, I felt the content was worth it so I posted it anyway. Glad it brought smiles to your faces as it did mine!!!