Four Raptors

[psquared]

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I took these today at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, CA. All with DMR + 800/5.6 + 1.4X APO.

 

Raptor #1: Male American Kestrel

[ATTACH]60510[/ATTACH]

 

Raptor #2: Female American Kestrel

[ATTACH]60514[/ATTACH]

 

Raptor #3: Osprey

[ATTACH]60512[/ATTACH]

 

Raptor #4: White-tailed Kite. This was taken after the sun went down.

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Thank you for looking,

Peter

[fernando_b]

I can feel the sensation when shooting the fourth, delightful.

First three show the top quality of the equipment you used (and your ability too). May be in third the eyes are not perfectly focussed.

Fernando.

[stuny]

Peter -

 

Excellent framing, details, light and subject. I've captured the images to share with a friend in north central California who helps injured raptors on the road to recovery.

[stuny]

Peter -

 

Here's my friend's reaction to your photos:

 

"Hi, Stuart - the pix are wonderful. Particularly the kite hovering. And the two kestrels show the differences between the males and females very clearly."

[psquared]

Thank you for your comments, Fernando and Stuart.

 

Stuart, please thank your friend, too.

 

Fernando, good observation about the osprey. I think the eye was actually in focus, but right as I was pressing the shutter release, the bird started to wipe his eye, so what you're seeing is the inner eyelid. It actually looks like a contact lens.

 

Here's a 100% crop.

 

[ATTACH]60652[/ATTACH]

[fernando_b]

Thanks for the explanation.

Observing the this last crop I'm even more impressed by the DMR, which I don't have (I already know well the quality of Leica tele lenses, expecially the APO ones).

Fernando.