Skimmer Catching Fish

Gallery: AvianPosted August 12, 201675 views3 comments

A week ago while catching shots of brown pelicans at sunset I noticed the activities of a couple of skimmers near a Biloxi, Ms. beach. I had always dreamed of witnessing them grab a fish as they obsessively cruise the shallows but I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I looked at the pictures later. The above shot is one of a sequence that clearly shows the skimmer turning almost upside down while flying in the other direction in order to grab and secure the fish. Thought I would share it partly because I find it unusual and also because I would welcome comments about how to improve the appearance. The shot was made handheld with a Canon 7d Mk II using a 100-400 II @ 278mm at f5.0 and an iso of 640 and 1/2000 shutter speed.

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on August 13, 2016 at 4:45 PM

Guess I've watched too much of the Olympics, because this bird looks like a gymnast doing one of those unbelievable flips. It's hard to make out what part of the bird is going what direction. The closest wing is nicely illuminated and I love the drops of water and big splash. I wonder if it would help to lighten some of the dark areas of the bird near the head. It would be great to see a little more of its head. Still, this is an amazing catch....nice going.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 13, 2016 at 6:12 PM

Wonderful timing, Anthony. I knew this happened when they actually caught something, but this is the most graphic example of it that I recall seeing. I don't know what processing you've done on this image, but it looks as if the autofocus didn't quite grab the bird (or maybe it caught the near wingtip) in this one and it's going to be difficult to recover from that in processing. The appearance of the water splash is rather odd as well and I'm not sure what's going on there. Did you crop this image significantly?

devil

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on August 15, 2016 at 12:07 AM

An amazing capture, Anthony. I'm surprised the birds don't dislocate their jaws.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments