Is that so?!

The European rollers (Coracias garrulus) often perch prominently on trees, posts or overhead wires watching for the large insects, small reptiles, rodents and frogs that they eat.

Molto bello l'atteggiamento e la espressione di questa coppia di ghiandaia marina, ottimo sfondo, ciao Giangiorgio

Beautiful shot, Sandor! This is undoubtedly a conversation! I wonder what they are talking about? Bravo! Sincerely, Tatiana

Grazie Giangiorgio del tuo generoso commento, ciao Sandor

Thank you, Tatiana, for viewing. The may be discussing what a fat lizard the neighbor next door could catch. Kind regards, Sandor

Looks like a pretty heated discussion, Sandor. Fantastic timing to capture this moment so well. Wonderful colors, light and composition. Best regards, Paul.

Thank you, Paul, I am glad you like it. Kind regards,- Sandor

Nice couple.

Thank you, Franz, for viewing. Best regards, Sandor

Sandor, terrific capture of the interaction of these two beauties. Well done. Todd

Thank you, Todd, for viewing and the nice comment. Kind regards, Sandor

Bellisimo! Tack Sharp focus and obviously great timing. I'm just getting around to photographing birds and I know I can learn a lot from you.

 

I'm curious to know what you did, if anything, to blur our the background in post-processing. The detail says you shot at F9.9 so I would have expected more distraction behind the birds.

Thank you, Raymond, for the kind note. Indeed, I never blur the background in post-processing. Sometimes I participated in photo competitions, and it would disqualify a photo anyway. Instead, I always plan these types of photos in advance based on the general behavior of birds, choose the spot where birds are flying around, and wait until they get there where I want them to be. Of course, it requires a lot of patience since they may or may not choose places where the background is not distractive. Patience often means several hours hiding somewhere, e.g., in a tent or behind something. In this particular photo, the closest bushes were maybe about 200 meters away in the background if I remember correctly. I myself put this branch in a optimal place in an area where these birds were normally perching looking for insects, lizards, and small rodents. I returned to this place two days later to take photos. Then it happened twice in a four-hour period that the rollers took this branch. First, one roller got there with a lizard for half a minute rest before flying on. The photo I took is also displayed here. Then two rollers got there and stayed over a minute. I took maybe 20 shots, and chose this one for display. Kind regards, Sandor

Hi Sandor,

 

you have again succeeded to photograph a most interesting moment between two birds; these rollers (who are beautiful anyway) do seem to have a conversation. A marvelous photo! I liked the info in your answer to Raymond; you should consider writing that sort of thing as an introductoty note. Kind regards, Vincent

Thank you, Vincent, for viewing and the nice comment. Kind regards,- Sandor