High in the skies

This week's Show Me A Photo contest has for a theme Bird in Flight! And this is a trickly one; yep, it's flying that we tend to see our feathered friends... but getting them in photo is another story.

Posting photographies in Hive has surely made me improve my technique in getting decent photos, but apart from proper technique, it's in these situations that a good reflex camera makes all the difference. Good light conditions, fast speeds, and some luck, and here goes some of my attempts!

^{Greater Flamingo - Phoenicopterus roseus}

Starting with a national one: flamingos! This is the biggest flamingo species, and easily seen in Portugal, in groups with decent numbers. These ones were seen south of the country, and despite my attempts, I couldn't take one single crystal clear zoomed photo of them!!

Truth be told, these were taken in the far end of my 50x zoom. Damn flamingos are highly suspicious, and don't allow closer approaches! That, or they didn't really liked me.

Off to Turkey, where a common species allowed a much closer photo session.

^{Black headed seagull - Chroicocephalus ridibundus}

During a Bosphorus boat trip, flocks of friendly gulls escorted the boat along most of the way. I couldn't understand why at first, but it didn't took long to discover the reason: tourists were sending bread from the balcony, immediatly snatched by the seagulls. I'm guessing this was a learned behaviour...

Back to southern Portugal, where among the flamingos, another species was all over the place.

^{Pied avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta}

Pied avocets are easy to recognize, with their black and white colour pattern and the upcurved beak. They were flying and making noise during all my birdwatching session, and I was able to capture them in all phases of flight! In plain fligh...

... at the take off....

... and in the landing! Lady luck surely helped here, since most of my in-flight photos went straight to the bin.

To finish, a little bird caught on camera. I don't remember if I was trying to get him or if he just photobombed the photo, but liked the end result!

What species is it? Can't tell for sure!

---

Have a great week everyone!

Still haven't joined Splinterlands? In what planet do you live in? Click the banner below and join the fun! (It has my referral link; you can go directly to the website if you don't want to use it; either way... join in! 😎 )