The Breeding Pair Photo

Photographer’s Note

Another photo from my bike trip to Mozambique...

Yellow-Billed Stork (Mycteria ibis) 95-105cm:
It is easily identified by its long, slightly decurved yellow bill. Its habitat is lakes and large rivers and estuaries. It is normally silent, except during the breeding season when it gives loud squeaks and hisses.

This is a breeding pair I found in one of the lagoons at the Limpopo River Mouth. During the breeding season its naked facial skin is red and its wing coverts and back are tinged with pink, which is clearly vivible here.

I struggled to get close to them, because they fly away as soon as they detect any movement in their vicinity.

milloup, Galeota, Liora, bartove, cool_s15, jhonny_blue, jhm, joseelias, Kenny10pin, nwoehnl, Spoony, avigur_11, sunny, dsidwell, PechePassion, Porteplume, Paolo, Facsi has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

RobBrown (1789) 2004-05-25 4:00

Good shot henry , positioning and colours are spot on, the whites on the nearer bird are slightly over exposed very diffult at those distances I know. so overall nice one.

clodreno (0) 2004-05-25 4:02

another great shot Henry, I love it.. The colors here are pure magic.

milloup (1829) 2004-05-25 4:11

Beautiful capture, and when this was taken you certainly had not alarmed them yet, otherwise the one closest to the camera would not have been still on one leg ;-) Interesting note, too, the pink mentioned is clearly visible.

olli (2091) 2004-05-25 4:14

Very beautiful birds and background. I like how the color of their bills work with the color of the reflections on the water.
The bird on the left seems to be a bit out of focus – so, I quess focusing on it with more DOF could have helped – perhaps.
Very good bird shot in any case, Henry.

Galeota (10334) 2004-05-25 4:55

Very good shot Henry. I'm leaving you a link to another site where I found some bird photographs taken in the Everglades by an amateur. YOur background seems to be post processed and I really like the effect and the tones you got here.

http://www.phototalk.net/photos/showgallery.php?ppuser=68&cat=500&thumb=1

Liora (1857) 2004-05-25 5:06

Great shot Henry! Excellent details and textures. The one on the left almost looks like it enjoys modeling for you...
Very well done!

bartove (2743) 2004-05-25 5:22

Good shot and good background.nice one.

cool_s15 (4050) 2004-05-25 5:25

First of all, i really like the colors here, henry! Also, the sand texture and DOF. Nice shot!

jhonny_blue (4954) 2004-05-25 5:34 [Comment]

Show Comment

jhm (83802) 2004-05-25 6:45

Again excellent bird photo Henry, sharpness and clair, I like of your animal photos Henry.
Prachtig werk Henry het is mooi!

aferrao (1074) 2004-05-25 8:18

The light is very good! That's what I most like, but the composition is nice too!
Great shot!

joseelias (367) 2004-05-25 8:53

Stunning colors, clarity and light. This is a very atractive photo. The DOF also help us focusing in the birds and the diagonal made by them give dinamic to the composition.

manny (21378) 2004-05-25 9:23

The light here is magical. Very good composition. What a synchronization in their movement. Very very good colors.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-05-25 10:19

nice pair work here, I like the dof and colours of the birds and the positioning is good

Well done

nwoehnl (120) 2004-05-25 12:37

A grand shot of the two storks, Henry. They look stunning in their colorful breeding plumage, and the shot works also extremely well as a study of two different frozen moments of the way those birds walk (I guess "stride" would be the more appropriate wording ;-). Great light and fine DOF, and even at a distance you got marvelous sharpness.

cdewet (0) 2004-05-25 13:26

Mooi Man! Now these gys are very difficult to nail properly. In full breeding plumage, the whites turn a lovely pink - check the backs. They are very cute storks, and often they will be followed by a spoonbill walking behind one in the water. I love the texture of the water in this one!

Spoony (3539) 2004-05-25 14:22

Amazing pic! No doubt about that. What a fantastic colors and composition...
Great colors too.
Very, very well done and seen.

avigur_11 (21307) 2004-05-25 16:32

A beautiful bird shot, Henry. The repeyition of the pose is perfect nd the colors are great, especialy the red heads. Wonderful sharpness, dof and clarity. a great sjot, very well done.

sunny (3068) 2004-05-25 17:22

Wow! This is lovely and so bright, Henry! :-)) Colourful layers in background and these elegant storks look so outstanding on it. Fine colours and sharpness, together with the very well managed light. Excellent capture indeed!

dsidwell (9745) 2004-05-25 22:52

I've sure missed your work, Henry. This shot is one of the reasons why. Lovely colors, sharp focus, interesting composition. Outstanding.

PechePassion (483) 2004-05-26 3:52

Superbe ce jeu de couleur qui accompagne ces deux oiseaux dans un leiu qui parait calme ...
Excellente photo animalière encore une fois Henry .

yesterday (9787) 2004-05-27 7:18

Excellent compoced, and very nice how they pose fore you:-))

Good light and great color, very speciel warter surface I like that. Mabye I shoul stop upload photo fore a while, run out of point.

dominique (11414) 2004-06-02 17:15

Superbe composition , les couleurs grace au reflet dans l'eau sont tres belles , j'aime la position des oiseaux sur l'eau , du beau travail .

Porteplume (3257) 2004-07-10 14:39

This picture is just wonderful! Precisely the kind of photo I would love to be able to make myself once...

The warm colours on the feathers with not any shadow, the stunning softly coloured background, the way you composed, the whole feeling it gives, making us wanting to be there...
Congratulation for such a lovely work Henry!

Leonie (8647) 2005-01-02 10:14

Fantastic birds! They look so majestic and the colours are amazing!

Paolo (40775) 2005-03-14 10:26 [Comment]

Show Comment