Patrick Booth, Young Guns (ANIMAL 2024)

This portfolio is of fledgling Black-shouldered Kites - Elanus axillaris photographed on Harwood Island in the Clarence Valley. I spent four days anchored next to the island in my boat on the Clarence River after noticing some aerial food transfers happening off in the distance a few days earlier, so on my return I was able to witness three young fledglings being pushed by their parents to fly for longer and learn to catch their own prey which consists of small marsupials. Camera and Setting Shots 1 &2 1050mm @ 1/1500 sec f8 Iso 3200 Nikon D500 Nikkor 500mm E f/5.6 PF Nikkor 1.4x III Teleconverter Shot 1- Young Guns has soft warm colours accentuated by a sugarcane fire out of shot to the left and the sun setting through it. This dappled sunlight depicts the birds as soft and luminous, equally sharp with mouths wide open, which is synonymous with young raptors. The bird on the left is making eye contact with me standing about 30 meters away on the deck of my boat. There's fine feather details and nice subtle catchlight in both of the bird's eyes. Shot 2 - Beautiful Baby is again blessed with warm colours accentuated by a sugarcane fire out of shot to the left and the sun setting through it. This dappled sunlight depicts the bird again as soft and luminous, with a particular innocent eye contact with me through the lens about 30 meters away. Shot 3 - Ready To Strike is of one of the youngsters descending dramatically through the smoke from the same cane fire in the first two shots. Note the already dominant right claw which means that at only a matter of weeks old this guy is right handed, a common trait amongst almost all birds of prey. Camera and Settings Shot 3 1050mm @ 1/4000 sec f8 Iso 3200 Nikon D500 Nikkor 500mm E f/5.6 PF Nikkor 1.4x III Teleconverter All Shots Handheld Shot handheld.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.