Grebe Food Exchange

Gallery: AvianPosted December 22, 2014170 views12 comments

December 21, 2014 at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California
This pair of Clark's Grebes repeatedly exchanged food. The smaller of the two fed the larger.

Nikon D4 Nikkor 600mm 1.4TC 850mm ISO250 f/8 1/1250 White Balance Auto RAW Processed in Lightroom, PhotoshopCC2014, TK and NIK.

Comments appreciated.

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on December 22, 2014 at 11:33 PM

Gorgeous light on these 2 birds. Those red eyes are just electric. I'm wondering why their bodies color seems so mottled. Or maybe that's how they were. I'm used to seeing a more uniform grey. Love the food exchange. That must have been fun to watch. I hope you had a good tripod. That seems like a lot of weight to be carrying around. Love to see more of these kinds of behavior shots.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on December 23, 2014 at 12:08 AM

Hey Patrick,
You are one of the reasons I have reservations posting in Avian, who can compete with this ?
First off I am a 'Water Guy' and this is outstanding, the reflection and the transition of FG to BG are perfect. The action, the detail and the lighting could not be better. The pano crop and horizontal lines that you selected are inspired.

Man !

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on December 23, 2014 at 6:55 AM

Beautiful moment, great light.
A very beautiful image, Patrick.

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on December 23, 2014 at 8:07 AM

I like the light and the behavior. A little more room on top if you have it. Nice capture.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on December 23, 2014 at 9:21 AM

Like everything about this photo and its an interesting study in straightening. Looks like you may have chosen to straighten on the Grebe on the right as the actual eye and the reflective eye are in a straight line.

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on December 23, 2014 at 11:04 AM

I believe this is breeding plumage. Wish we had these on this side of the country! Well put together, Patrick!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Sandor on December 23, 2014 at 1:33 PM

Patrick: light, subject and composition are all there. Congrats, Richard

Registered on January 12, 2014, 453 Posts, 1625 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on December 23, 2014 at 4:09 PM

Don't you just love it when everything comes together. Great subjects and comp.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 24, 2014 at 7:14 AM

Sweet behavior capture Patrick

Great light and excellent detail. I really like this composition too.

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on December 24, 2014 at 10:15 AM

Nice moment captured. Nice processing too

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on December 24, 2014 at 2:41 PM

Really liking the pose and the meal exchange is terrific Patrick. I didn't see anyone mention this, so maybe it is my monitor as I am seeing this in different light than normal, but it seems there is a slight color cast on this...Just very very slight green tint. So little I might change it in LR on the tint slider move to the pink about +3 or +4 is all.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Tjie Poo on December 26, 2014 at 6:21 PM

Great behavioral capture Patrick ! No nits from me !

Registered on December 4, 2012, 51 Posts, 511 Comments