Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron

[PhotoLover]

A series taken in late afternoon when a juvenile and one of its parents was hunting in a nearby park. My favorite is probably the first one, in flight.

I think the juveniles are prettier than the adults, really.

The lighting on a couple of shots is a bit deceiving; it looks like the picture was taken at night, but it was afternoon. I was underexposing to keep from blowing the highlights, and decided I liked the look.

Usual LR processing, all these shots used the enhanced denoise. For the in-flight shot I extended the background a bit with PS on the left and re-cropped; I didn't frame the bird that well. But I was shooting the 500 pf + 1.4 and AF was a bit slow.

 

[Rick S]

Stunning set, and I agree with your choice of favorites. The first one is mine as well.

 

[Brian_S]

have to go with #1 myself

 

[ssheipel]

Beautiful shots, and agreed that first shot is special!

 

[PhotoLover]

Thanks guys. The in-flight shot is the most interesting but I did enjoy the lighting on the other shots. The Night Heron takes a bow.

 

[Woodyg3]

I agree, the first shot is great. Nice series.

 

[Larry S.]

Great series! I like all of them. Well done…

 

[Louis champan]

Great set of images, very well done with all of them.

 

[PhotoLover]

Thanks all. It was very kind of the Night Heron to model for me.