Red-breasted Geese are rare winter visitors here in The Netherlands, and usually are amidst large flocks of other geese, usually Brent Geese. Interestingly enough, from a distance they are hardly discernible from the other geese without binoculars or scopes. Up close however, they stand out enormously. Anyway, everytime I see this image I must smile, since it looks to me as if the two Brent Geese are gossiping about this strange, colourful character walking by …
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D500 with 500mm f4 | 1/800s | f4 | ISO500 | overexposed 1/3EV | handheld
A wonderful image Hans! The title really suits too. It’s great to see birds I have never seen…or even heard of before.
Great poses from all the birds, and love the colours. The background is very nice.
As much as I like the image, as is, I feel the blacks on the main character is a little blocked. I took the image into ACR and there is quite a lot of feather detail to be found on the underpart of the bird. The three whiter, OOF birds draw my eye, and wonder if taming them would be part of your ethics?
Thanks @Jim_Gavin , @David_Bostock and @glennie for your comments. @glennie: yes, you are right about the blacks, they could be brightened a bit, although on my screen I can see already quite some detail already - but some more detail wouldn’t hurt. As for the white underparts of the birds in the OOF background, to me that’s part of what you see in situations like this and not disturbing enough to work on - but of course, these are personal preferences. Thanks for thinking along !
Cheers,
Outstanding in every way, Hans. I’m just curious, did you use a hide or car window? And is this in a Nature Reserve? I’d love to see this species one day!
hello, @Mike_Friel, this was on a farm field - in The Netherlands we have hundreds of thousands geese wintering, mainly feeding on farm fields - sometimes rarities like these Red-Breased Geese travel along. I approached them with the car, and then slowly slid out and positioned myself on the ground next to it and waited long enough for the group to come within shooting distance. Most of the times this approach does fail though, as they stay in the same spot or simply move the wrong way. Always a combination of patience and a bit of luck
Hi Hans
Once again I have thank you for providing me a new look at the wide world of nature. I would never had seen a Red-breasted Geese, with out this post. By the way , every cool low angle shot.
Peter
Thanks @peter , ain’t it great that by having contributors from all over the world on NPN we can all see (for us) new species every now and then? Cheers,
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- but of course, these are personal preferences. Thanks for thinking along !