A female kingfisher plunges into a pond in southwestern England hot on the tail of a tasty little fish. These birds’ eyes have special filters thought to reduce glare, giving them a clearer view of underwater prey from above. A third eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, protects their eyes when they strike the water at high speed.
Photographer Charlie Hamilton James placed the camera in a waterproof box and set it up in the pond, wired to an infrared trigger that fired when something crossed its path. This image was the result of several weeks of patient monitoring. James: “When shooting wildlife my aim is to show the subjects as they exist in their environment. This is particularly the case with kingfishers, which are more often than not shot close up with wide-angle lenses in order to show them in their river landscape.”
Fantastic !
# 2. Rhacodactylus Says:
July 20th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
The beauty and skill involved in nature photography is amazing. It makes you glad Charlie is a shutterbug and not a hunter.
# 3. ErnestPayne Says:
July 20th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Congratulations.
# 4. Tweets that mention What You See When a Kingfisher’s About to Eat You | Visual Science | Discover Magazine — Topsy.com Says:
July 20th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ron Simon, Geoffrey Dyson, Maggie, World Amazing Things, Al Poe and others. Al Poe said: What You See When a Kingfisher’s About to Eat You | Visual Science: A female kingfisher plunges into a pond in so… http://bit.ly/95I1mL [...]
nsh
awesome shot! how did you find this photographer?
http://davemosher.com Dave Mosher
Amazing shot. I think the link to Nature Picture Library is busted, though. Should be http://www.naturepl.com/
http://visa-express-shanghai.com/ George
Amazing !
http://mightyworksproject.blogspot.com/ Kirk Jordan
Simply astonishing on so many levels. This is an incredible photo.
Sign up to get the latest science news delivered weekly right to your inbox!
Visual Science
Science stories, beautifully told.
About Rebecca Horne
Rebecca Horne (http://rebeccahornephotography.com) is an artist, multi-platform freelance writer, and award-winning photography director. She launched Visual Science for Discover.com in March 2010. She also writes about science and photography for The WallStreet Journal. You can reach her at rh@rebeccahornephotography.com.
Pingback: Tweets that mention What You See When a Kingfisher’s About to Eat You | Visual Science | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com