2008: Behaviour: Birds - Highly Commended
Ramon Navarro (Spain)
Hoopoe delivery
'Hoopoes are one of my favourite subjects, and I like everything about them. I took this picture in the eucalyptus grove near my home in Seville, Spain. I used a remote set-up and a wide-angle lens to capture the environment as well as the action.' The colourful hoopoe nests in holes in trees and buildings all over Europe, Asia and Africa. When it lands, it briefly raises its crest in a dramatic fan. It survives mainly on insects and worms and has a noxious defence mechanism: it emits a foul smell and, in the case of the chicks, squirts liquid faeces.
Canon EOS-1D Mark II + Canon 17-40mm f4 lens; 1/250 sec at f11; ISO 200; three high-speed flash units in manual mode at 1/16; infrared beam.
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Adult awards Sandpiper congregation Arthur Morris
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Adult awards Black grouse dawn show Bence Máté
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