Say's Phoebe

[David Salem]

Caught this Say's Phoebe returning to its perch after a successful hunt. My friend and I got lucky when we saw it coming back to the perch. We both hit our shutter buttons as the bird came in but the Phoebe got startled from the noise and did a quick hover around the perch. Auto focus was locked on to the tip of the perch and luckily the bird hovered right at the perches focal distance. We got quite a few cool frames in that two second hover. Hope you like this one.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH from truck@ 4:20pm---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[David Salem]

Just realized that this was my 3000th post on BPN so I wanted to thank everyone for all the great help and suggestions over the past few years. I really appreciate it.

[MiroslavMaric]

Congratulations and thank you for your comments and wonderful photos.

This one is top! Nice light and BG tone. Beautiful sharp bird in action & flight. Like the pose and eye contact too!

Cheers!
Miro

[Greg Oakley]

Congrats on the 3000 David - I always look forward to your superb images (and this one is no exception!)
cheers Greg

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great timing for this. What's not to like?

[Alan Murphy]

Awesome image David.

[Shawn Zierman]

Wowser! Color, light, action, sharpness, natural history...this one has it all. Love the cricket prey...Perfect sharpening on the bird. Can't really image a nicer background color scheme to go with the frontal view of this species. If the wing had not merged with the perch it would be too good to be true!...regardless, it's an amazing image.

[Bill Dix]

David, congrats on the milestone. What a gorgeous image to celebrate it. Your images have always been inspiring, and your critiques most helpful. Looking forward to the next 3K.

This is beautiful. Great wing spread, awesome color coordination, prey; and the usual techs.

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate the nice comments.

[Satish Ranadive]

Spectacular landing pose. Wonderful colors and great IQ. Superb details, nice lights, beautiful lights and composition.
Heartiest Congratulations on 3K post.

Regards,
Satish.

[HadiAnsari]

Color, light, action, sharpnes is very well. TFS

[Binu John]

Stunning shot, David! Wonderful pose, light, exposure and IQ!

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture! Nice sharp details throughout the bird.

[gail bisson]

Holy cr**p, this one is good! IQ, action, light are superb. IOTW I think!
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Amazing image, David. Winner for sure in my book.

[Paul Click]

If the wing had not merged with the perch it would be too good to be true!...regardless, it's an amazing image.

Sort of like this...

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/webkit-fake-url://735B4596-F075-4D42-836D-31D97E4F93DB/image.tiff

https://www.dropbox.com/s/upwhk954m8lg9ij/Phoebe.jpg

[Doug Brown]

Congrats on 3000 posts! What a way to commemorate your milestone!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Holy excrement indeed! What a fantastic image Dave. Amazing light quality, killer pose and I love how well the BG complements the colors on the bird.
The in-mouth prey is icing on top. I'm digging the shadow of the tiny little foot on the wing there :)

Thanks for all your wonderful posts and your constructive and encouraging critiques. Congrats on the milestone and looking forward to the next 3K :cheers:

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone! Im glad you guys and gals like this shot. Im glad the sharpness looks good because with shots of small birds like this, getting the sharpness right is tricky, at lest it is for me :)

[Ishmeet Sahni]

A beautiful BG, love the contrast of the color of the under belly with the BG. Great timing.

[Richard Flack]

Congrats David. Thanks for all your photos and the time you take to offer comments and advice. I for one really appreciate it. This is a cracker image! What an awesome wing display and a bug in its mouth nogal! :). Awesome!

[Glenn Conlan]

I remember that bird! Great shot buddy.

[Marina Scarr]

First off, congratulations on your 3000th post, David! It's been a pleasure to see your images and to have met you. This image is a great way to celebrate your 3000th b/c it's simply out of this world. The light and action are just over the top.

[Steve Kaluski]

Exceptional David, great, vibrant colours with delicate soft pastels in the wings, plus having the food in the beak is the icing. To have a complimentary BKG too is just, cracking work. :cheers:

Agree with Alan - awesome!

TFS
Steve

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the comments.

[Lorant Voros]

I guess we have an IOW and possibly an IOY. Outstanding! Congratulations for the milestone and it is celebrated with a super picture.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, A bit late to this party, was away for a week on 'safari'. :w3 This is just incredible - fantastic wingspread and fanned tail and just the overall colours. Sharpness spot on, and his catch a bonus. Very well captured.

Congrats on your 3000 milestone. ( a bit passed by now :w3 ) Thanks a stack for all your feedback on my images, as well as your valued participation on the site.