Common Loons - Changing of the Guard #2 of 5

[Bill Dix]

First sequel to yesterday's post of a nesting loon: One can take only so many images of a stationary bird from a fixed position. So after about 100 or so :e3, I waded back onto dry land, washed the sand off my feet, and started heading back toward the car. At that point my wife said "Wait. I think there's another loon." So I quickly waded back in, and sure enough another Common Loon was swimming from the large open lake toward the cove where the nest was located. He (I say he, but I'm not sure), stopped and hung around some 20 or 30 yards from the nest, diving occasionally. At that point the female (?) clambered off the nest and swam toward him, diving beneath the Park Service's protective cordon and surfacing amidst a group of swimming humans, much to their delight. Here she is on the way out to greet her mate, shortly after leaving the nest.

D500, Sigma 150-600 VR @ 300 mm, ISO 500, 1/800s @ f/8 maual, HH. FF cropped to pano.

[Mike Hitchen]

2 in and I am enjoying this series already!
You are so lucky to have got so close and you have captured them wonderfully well.

[Randy Stout]

Bill another nice one. I like the low rider pose, drip on bill, subtle green sheen on head.

Loons of course lend themselves to pano crops, so good choice. The challenge is where to place the bird vertically in the frame. For my tastes, perhaps a bit too much foreground vs background, but of course , I don't know what it looks like higher on the reeds. Purely personal choice.

Looking forward to the rest!

Cheers

Randy

[William Dickson]

Hey Bill, what a great place to be, when all this was going on. The POV on this one really makes it. Again, beautiful colours and a lovely looking bird, well captured. Maybe a wee bit too much saturation again, or maybe its my screen.

Will

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Another wonderful capture in the series. Like the rich colors surrounding, and the subtle green on the loons head. Nice clear eye.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Robert Kimbrell]

Nicely captured Bill. The exposure looks great. Well done on getting so close and low. I would also back off the Saturation, but a very small amount.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Bill, playing in the water again. Nice image... I like the pano crop, I agree with backing off the saturation a tad. Thank you for sharing.

[Mike Poole]

Love the bird itself, but if available I'd like her to be lower in the frame

Mike