Beaks, Claws and Talons

[Vinam]

Hello DPS, took sunday afternoon off to just enjoy the beautiful day and shoot some photos.

Big Snapper, this thing looks like it's 200 years old

it had HUGE claws ..difficult to get a decent shot of it, I would guess it's shell was about too feet long, really cool animal

Hiked to the end of a trail, worked my way thru the brush to a clearing, I could hear the Opsrey screeching, so I knew something was up.. Quite a far shot from across a marsh, but he had a fish and was having some lunch,

Letting everyone in the area know, " This is MINE ! "

He went to town on it ( a nice sized Pike I belive,

had to move on, was getting bitten by millions of skeeters, but I'm happy I finally got a few shots of one eating ( I will get a shot of one catching a fish... someday ) lol

to close out, I was walking down the trail and this little fellow was letting everyone know that he was alive and well and I was entering HIS territory !


I got moving as quick as I could... he looked dangerous !! and I was only armed with a canon.

was nice to get out , take a long walk and shoot some, hope you enjoy the photos, thanks for taking a look,

Vin

[beachcomber]

Four interesting pictures, love the little bird in the final one so delicate and vulnerable.
Two and three are just fantastic. A little grainy but don't I sound churlish. They are both great. To get that close, with that much detail and you not being able to fly yourself, is a wonderful achievement.
My favourite though is the dinosaur, its awesome picture, I've never seen one of these before, a turtle with huge claws and huge teeth probabaly, we need a bigger boat, good job Vin

beach

[murrymalty]

I like the last one Vin
U got good skills, tht bird would have seen me coming miles away and gone for a little fly before i showed up

[Fred flyfisher]

Good work as always Vin, love the ones of the eater. Great shots.

[FDCPR]

All of these photos show nature at it's best. Good job, the snapper is great as they are hard to get good photos of. At his size he is the king predator in the water, they are tough on all the little water bird chicks. But, that is nature's way and I like seeing them. There are still a lot of people that the first thought is turtle soup though.

[Chewys Dad]

Good Job Vin; Not bad on the Osprey; You were obviously way far away when you took this, but I would have been excited just to get photos like these.
Love the little bird, Singing Away!!!! and the Snapper looks like a dinosaur!!!
Thanks for Sharing these
Chewys Dad.

[jakethepig]

Great set Vin. Love the first one, he does look very old and looks like he can hardly get out of the water. What a good spot with the Osprey and his lunch. Not too often you get the chance to see that and capture the moment, and what a catch for lunch. The last shot vin is brilliant. So clear and sharp and the colours are so good. I Love this set Vin. Well done mate.

Jake.

[rawHulk]

hmm.. am I dreaming or does the last bird actually have 2 eyes on one side.. ? are those even eyes.. ? I guess I must really be sleepy.. lol..

[Vinam]

Originally Posted by beachcomber

Four interesting pictures, love the little bird in the final one so delicate and vulnerable.
Two and three are just fantastic. A little grainy but don't I sound churlish. They are both great. To get that close, with that much detail and you not being able to fly yourself, is a wonderful achievement.
My favourite though is the dinosaur, its awesome picture, I've never seen one of these before, a turtle with huge claws and huge teeth probabaly, we need a bigger boat, good job Vin

beach

I really wanna work on the snapping turtle, get some really good ones of him,it was sooo cool to see. I was thinking the little bird shot wouldn;t even come out.. but I got em pretty good... like 5 seconds to set tripod, focus and snap ..he was a so twitchy and fast.

I learned from a guy who works at the park, " if you follow the river north, you will see more Osprey, but it's really just woods... the trails are OVERGROWN and it's muddy " it was an adventure that atleast gave me something for that long walk lol.
thanks buddy

Originally Posted by murrymalty

I like the last one Vin
U got good skills, tht bird would have seen me coming miles away and gone for a little fly before i showed up

thanks Murry, I miss 90% of those little bird shots and the 10% i do get are usually oof or in a bad pose, so it's great to get a " gotcha " on the little ones.. glad you liked it

Originally Posted by Fred flyfisher

Good work as always Vin, love the ones of the eater. Great shots.

Thanks Fred, was a great afternoon, even better when I download and take a look at what I shot... wasn't sure about the Osprey shots.. but because it's taking forever to get some shots of them doing something other then perch on a tree branch and preen, I am happy to get what I did, glad you liked them.

Originally Posted by FDCPR

All of these photos show nature at it's best. Good job, the snapper is great as they are hard to get good photos of. At his size he is the king predator in the water, they are tough on all the little water bird chicks. But, that is nature's way and I like seeing them. There are still a lot of people that the first thought is turtle soup though.

thanks FD, the turtle will be visted alot this summer.. I'm sure I'll get a little better view of the whole body ... was too crowded with people and he was scared off after a minute near me... I was thinking the baby geese,ducks and swans were in great peril from him ... his pond was free of any waterfowl btw ,, glad you liked them

Originally Posted by Chewys Dad

Good Job Vin; Not bad on the Osprey; You were obviously way far away when you took this, but I would have been excited just to get photos like these.
Love the little bird, Singing Away!!!! and the Snapper looks like a dinosaur!!!
Thanks for Sharing these
Chewys Dad.

thanks Chewy's .. I had to exercise some photography disipline and take what was given, I've got many hours just watching them near nests, this was a hike to a new remote spot in hopes of seeing some fishing, I missed it by a few minutes it seems.. and I agree, just to get a few of one eating = good enough, the turle really did look like something that lived a1 million years ago, glad you liked them

Originally Posted by jakethepig

Great set Vin. Love the first one, he does look very old and looks like he can hardly get out of the water. What a good spot with the Osprey and his lunch. Not too often you get the chance to see that and capture the moment, and what a catch for lunch. The last shot vin is brilliant. So clear and sharp and the colours are so good. I Love this set Vin. Well done mate.

Jake.

thanks Buddy ! I relaxed, enjoyed the afternoon, kept my eyes open ( and ears which was good ) and just went with it, the Turtle was amazing and I'm gonna get more time with him ,, he's in a small pond , he can't hide from me !

I was excited to see the fish in it's talons, I shot what I could.. if I'm not given another chance, it's cool.. I got something out of it lol . I thought of the bunch the last was up to par with my current ability, direct noon sunlight (I might add hee hee ).. I'm really glad you liked them.

Originally Posted by rawHulk

hmm.. am I dreaming or does the last bird actually have 2 eyes on one side.. ? are those even eyes.. ? I guess I must really be sleepy.. lol..

Hiyas Hulk .. nope, it's just a pretty long reach with 400m, so it's not as clear as I had hoped.. it has a dark oval area above the beak between the eyes, making it look round cause the heads bent over.. I guess my Avatar icon is a good example...it does look like an eye though lol

Here's one more .. this is before cropping and any PP work..


shooting at 1/400 and f11 , trying to not get it blurred while it's head was moving and dealing with bright sun , my exposure was a bit dark,, I got a few of these that are decent.. I may clean another up when I get the urge and a little better at pp.



thanks for all your kind comments, it's greatly appreciated,

Vin

[tycooder]

That snapper is incredible With the time that you put into your work when you do get it it will be a great one Nice work buddy.