Arial Acrobatics.. 4 more from G.M.O.S.

[CyberDyneSystems]

A few more favorites from the Osprey images..

Only related to eachother in the sense that these birds just look good in the air! (most of my previous posts have them spalshing about in the water ;) )

The classic soaring overhead shot ...
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ycxq1f&noresize=1&nostamp=1

The Hover before a dive...
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ycxq15&noresize=1&nostamp=1

Yep,. that "Dog-Fight" again.. ;)
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ycxq12&noresize=1&nostamp=1

They not only fight like dogs.. they shake the water off after a dive just like a DOG!!! :)
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ycxq13&noresize=1&nostamp=1

[ssim]

Sweet shots CDS. That second one is downright awesome.

[guitarman3]

They are ALL awesome! Wow...amazing CDS.

[JMAS]

W:shock:W!

Number one and two are stunning!
3rd and 4th are mostly informative but how great to get that kind of information in such detail and perspective.

Seaguls are crazy or is it a matter of body mass?
I saw the other threads about G.M.O.S. seaguls arasing the osprey but none of the contrary action. Meaning either seaguls are stronger or more inteligent, having a strategy for catching what others had to spot and dig first.
What's your impression having been there?
Thanks for sharing, CDS.

[djonto]

They are all great shots, but I am still amazed by the second one!

[mgbeach]

cool shots. they seem like the victims of a bit of overagressive sharpening though. any shots with those settings toned down a bit?

[Scottes]

Great shots CDS. The classic soaring overhead is a keeper. Great detail.


Seaguls are crazy or is it a matter of body mass?
They're crazy. Last year I snapped a shot of 3 Sea Gulls harassing a Bald Eagle. Sea Gulls ain't too bright.

[IanD]

Oh man! #2 is awsome! Looks like he is about to do a "shake".

[sparker1]

Great series. Number 1 does it for me.

[tupe]

Unbelievable! You got two clear in-flight eye shots in #3!!!

[Airedale1]

Fantastic!

[skade]

Awesome!

[PacAce]

Very nice, CDS. Very, very nice! :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thanks guys.. glad you like them :)


cool shots. they seem like the victims of a bit of overagressive sharpening though. any shots with those settings toned down a bit?

Sharpeneing on these was merely .3 radius at about 180% USM in selected areas..
The gull turned out freakishly weird out of camera.. most of the white (not in shadow) was pretty blown out. I think that might attribute to the wierdness around the eye.

I think the rest of the issue is actually my jpeg conversion this time.. I had it set too low (too much compression) lots of jaggies...

Personally I think the 4th image is dramatically under sharpened as I never "resharpen" after making the reduced jpeg for upload.. the 4th image in particular suffers as the water drops that are clearly visible out of camera are nearly invisible.

[BlueTit]

The level of bird photograhy is going through the roof this week, last week it was macros :-)

They are brilliant shots, I love number 1, but 2 has got to be my favourite, it is comical. Just great.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Seagulls are crazy or is it a matter of body mass?
I saw the other threads about G.M.O.S. seagulls arasing the osprey but none of the contrary action. Meaning either seaguls are stronger or more inteligent, having a strategy for catching what others had to spot and dig first.
What's your impression having been there?


I think the Gulls are a lot smarter than we give them credit for... and this is part of why they are so succesfull.

Having given this much thought my explanation is as follows;

First we must understand what it is that separates the raptors from other birds?.. what makes them hunters? and what makes them seem so formidable?

It's the Talons.

The gulls are not only badgering the Osprey only when they are "preoccupied" with there catch.. but there only means of damaging the gull is being used to hold the fish. Without there talons free the Osprey is no more threat than a pigeon.

The other aspect is flight properties,. certain raptors are designed for certain types of flight.. most in fact are rather ungainly in the area of aerial combat (excluding Falcons of course) Whereas gulls are excellent "all around" fliers.. no specialization like the Osprey's diving and hovering skills.. so the Gull is most likely aware that in most circumstances it can out maneuver the Osprey.

Lastly I also noticed that all of the Osprey who received such treatment were smaller and already less "in shape" than those that did not get bothered by the gulls.. (the vast majority did not in fact)

So to my eyes the gulls picked out younger, less able bodied and more under the weather looking Osprey to try and steal from.

[PacAce]

So, essentially, gulls are nothing more than thugs and bullies who only pick on somebody smaller than themselves. :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen:

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! WOW! those are great, Really love the second one.

[IanD]

The one thing that I noticed was that the majority of gulls doing the attacking were the larger black backed gulls. These guys are big, a lot bigger than the "regular" gull. They were strong enough to drive the ospreys right into the water. It was an awsome sight to watch.

[LazyPhotographer]

WOW! The 2nd one is superb!!!

[CyberDyneSystems]

... I'm curious now,.

Other than the jpeg compression issues.. (leaving the little halo) .. do the other three images (excluding the Gull) look over sharpened?

thanks for you opinions :)

[witchy]

... I'm curious now,.

Other than the jpeg compression issues.. (leaving the little halo) .. do the other three images (excluding the Gull) look over sharpened?

thanks for you opinions :)

I'm not an expert and have limited photoshop abilities but to me, the first 3 look excellent. I could only wish to take pics as good as you have..Maybe one day I will get the chance and hopefully by then be a lot more experienced.

Just curious, were all these shots taken using a tripod?..and if so how do you folllow the birds with it?..I am very clumsy with my tripod, so I tend to avoid it :)

[mgbeach]

The things that look odd to me are the white outline on the first one (makes it look like it was pasted onto the sky background). There's a similar issue along the left side of the second bird. There's what looks like a drop shadow behind the seagull in the third. Did you use the Shadow/Highlight tool on these? I've seen it produce some strange effects when you have to bring an underexposed subject into proper ranges.

[JMAS]

I think the Gulls are a lot smarter than we give them credit for... and this is part of why they are so succesfull.

Having given this much thought my explanation is as follows;

First we must understand what it is that separates the raptors from other birds?.. what makes them hunters? and what makes them seem so formidable?

It's the Talons.

The gulls are not only badgering the Osprey only when they are "preoccupied" with there catch.. but there only means of damaging the gull is being used to hold the fish. Without there talons free the Osprey is no more threat than a pigeon.

The other aspect is flight properties,. certain raptors are designed for certain types of flight.. most in fact are rather ungainly in the area of aerial combat (excluding Falcons of course) Whereas gulls are excellent "all around" fliers.. no specialization like the Osprey's diving and hovering skills.. so the Gull is most likely aware that in most circumstances it can out maneuver the Osprey.

Lastly I also noticed that all of the Osprey who received such treatment were smaller and already less "in shape" than those that did not get bothered by the gulls.. (the vast majority did not in fact)

So to my eyes the gulls picked out younger, less able bodied and more under the weather looking Osprey to try and steal from.


CDS,

Thank you very much for your insight on this.

I was very surprised to see this happen. But your explanation makes sense.



Scott also referred seeing 3 seagulls attacking one bald Eagle. I think that could be explained by the disadvantage caused by the number.



This remembered me of a story I was told last year when I went to a natural park were there were some demonstrations with trained birds of prey. (I took some photos but they were very poor. Never posted).

The trainer was a very nice guy and seeing my interest he gave me some attention and we had a long talk about many of the birds there. He had one very good story about one common krestel (I think it was... the Portuguese name is “falcão peneireiro”) that was his favorite, since he took care of him from a very early stage and it had a lot of problems that required more time and attention to that particular bird. He had his longest tail feathers ripped off. Seems those feathers were essential for the hovering about that they do before striking. He protected him from all the other birds and played with him even on weekends to teach him to fly, mixing only with birds of similar weight or less. The feathers had to be inserted (didn't know that was possible) and over two years it was his buddy, showing some unusual friendly behavior.



According him the krestel saw him as a father and had complete trust that everything would always be OK if the trainer was within his field of view.



One day he put the krestel in flight while there was an eagle (also his) set loose to practice.

The Krestel got into the eagle's area and attacked the eagle high up in the sky! :shock:

He got away maybe because the eagle was surprised.



However, he did it again another day. This time with two eagles flying around. Chose to pick on the larger one, maybe thinking it was the most menacing competitor for food. So must have thought, let's push out this chunky fellow.:rolleyes:

He survived but with many injuries, and when set free near eagles again he simply doesn't fly. As soon as he spots an eagle he gets back to the trainer.

His explanation was that the krestel confused the ground protection offered by his friend and must have thought that the buddy could protect him, even high in the sky.



The trainer also wished he could. He was still feeling guilty as he was telling me the story. It's all a matter of confidence.



Sorry for the long story but I felt it was in line with these fantastic images.;)

[montreal]

What lens were you using Cyber?

I just love the last one. You can actually see the water droplets suspended in the air. Actually I love the 2nd one too. And the 3rd one. Okay I love them all!