10/25/2005: Sky Chase: falcon and starlings
 

http://cellar.org/2005/starlings.jpg

This is the wildlife photo of the year. Says the BBC:

A swirling image of a peregrine falcon sweeping into a flock of starlings has won Manuel Presti this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

The Italian caught the action scene, titled Sky Chase, high above a city park in Rome.

"Sky chase is a powerful image and, like it or not, it's one that you will never forget," said Mark Carwardine, one of this year's judges.
...
[says the photographer, Manuel Presti:]
"I was photographing with two cameras; one was with a wide-angle zoom to capture all the shapes, and one - which is this picture - with a long lens to capture the up-close action, the chase," Manuel told the BBC News website.

"The sky was cloudy so I overexposed the image intentionally to make it white. A slow shutter speed - 1/50th of a second - gives it this dynamic of the starlings moving under the psychological pressure of the peregrine diving."

An average photographer takes a lot of shots and hopes for the best. A great photographer looks at the subject and conditions and light, and figures out what can be done with it. When Manuel Presti made his decisions based on what he saw, well that's a great photographer. And then there's the crop, the framing. I wish we had a larger format view of this image, but anyway, what a great photo.

In Michigan, the falcon could be earning 3 cents per...
433.301 Starlings and crows; bounty for killing; resolution of board of supervisors.

Sec. 1.

Every person being an inhabitant of this state, who shall kill a starling or a crow in any organized township, village or city in this state shall be entitled to receive a bounty of 3 cents for each starling thus killed, and 10 cents for each crow thus killed, to be allowed and paid in the manner hereinafter provided: Provided, That this law shall not be obligatory on any county unless the board of supervisors at the October session shall adopt a resolution to that effect, either as to starlings or as to crows or both, and then only to the amount appropriated for such purpose by said board, and shall not be effective in any city or village located in any such county in case the governing body thereof shall adopt a resolution to that effect.

History: 1941, Act 152, Eff. Jan. 10, 1942 ;--CL 1948, 433.301 .


433.302 Starlings and crows; delivery to local clerk; certificate.

Sec. 2.

Every person applying for such bounty shall take such starlings, in lots of not less than 50, and crows in lots of 10 or more, to the clerk of the township, village or city within which such starlings or crows shall have been killed, in a state of good preservation, and if satisfied with the correctness of such claim, shall issue a certificate stating the amount of bounty to which such applicant is entitled and deliver the same to such applicant, and shall destroy such starlings and crows by burning or other effective method.

History: 1941, Act 152, Eff. Jan. 10, 1942 ;--CL 1948, 433.302 .

I think this one might soon be toast.

When I encounter great subjects like this, it usually is followed by, "Crap, I wish I had my camera with me."
In honesty, it wouldn't make a difference because the picture would be long gone before I could get the camera ready. :o

I LOVE hawks and falcons and nighthawks!

This picture of fish, however, from the same BBC contest was pretty cool, as well!

A veritable smorgasbird

Looks like someone just pulled the plug in the ocean...

*sniff* I really don't have anything to say regarding animals. *sniff*

This is a great photo which deserves the award. I guess if you take pictures for a living you eat, sleep, and S#%t with your camera. I never have mine, either. When I get it the batteries are usually dead.

For a few years, I got seriously into photography - people comment on the photos on my office walls - your right - if you want to take great photos, you practically live with at LEAST one camera, and often more. I usually had one "body" loaded with B&W film (usually the now discontinued Technical Pan - if not, Plus-X or Ilford) and another with some sort of color film - Kodachome 25 (again - now discontinued - you can get K-64) or one of the various print films - depending on the effect I was looking for THAT day (Fuji = vivid Greens) various flavors of Kodak giving various effects - sometimes if I wanted strong blues, I'd load ectachome

As a slight less fanatical person than some I used to carry "short" rolls - 12 exposures, or 24 if I was not bulk loading - not 36!! Why? So I could change film more often - can't tell you the number of times I was 1/2 way through a roll, and needed (wanted) to change film

We used to comment - you know how you know a serious photographer? 1)(S)he always has a camera with them
2)They almost always have a tripod/monopod with them - GOOD photos are rarely taken hand held

Wonderful photos :

Kind of wildlife yin and yang for the first one.

I'm looking for the reason why the fish act like this ? What is there in the middle ?

It's a dog chasing its tail - the front of the school of fish starts following the end, and the circle gets tighter and tighter until they figure out what's happening.

That's my guess, at least.

Why not

Or Posseidon flushed the ocean, making a whirlpool.
No, too easy !
Perhaps a picture of Katarina...