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Jack Zhi's Image
To get this fleeting shot, Jack had to abandon his tripod, grab his camera and run. The result was the highlight of three years’ work observing white-tailed kites. Finally everything had come together perfectly.
Juvenile white-tailed kites must master aerial food exchange from their parents until they can hunt for themselves – typically by hovering, then dropping down to grab small mammals. Later, they need to perform aerial courtship rituals, where a male offers prey to a female.
Behind the lens
Jack Zhi
USA
Jack is a solution architect working in the cloud computing space. He’s been photographing birds for seven years. After moving to California from the Midwest, he found the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, which soon became his own sanctuary. He found himself taking walks there all the time. Seeing so many beautiful birds, it wasn’t long before he picked up a camera and started to photograph these amazing creatures.
Image details
- Sony ILCE-9M2
- 600mm f4 lens
- + 1.4x teleconverter 1/2500 sec at f5.6 • ISO 500
- Costa Mesa, California, USA
Copyright in WPY competition photographs remains the property of the respective photographers. You may not copy, share, reproduce or republish the photographs except as expressly permitted by copyright law. For media image usage enquiries, please contact us.
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