Heh, this is scarier than yesterday's by far IMO. Not sure about the shadow on its back but other than that, nice portrait.

The detail here is amazing, thats either one friendly seagull, or youve got a splendid lens there.

You kept us guessing tonight David.
I can see you took full advantage of todays sunlight to capture this gull. I know you like them, and this one is a nice study of the male bird. I like the side modelling.

Jamey: yes, this close it does look a bit scary. Mind you, when Harmony puts her mind to it she can be quite scary too ;-)

pete: the original was cropped from about 3500px to 3250px and I guess I must have been about four feet away from it, so I was pretty close. That said I've found the f/2.8 70-200 gives me much better results than the f/4.0 version. Partly, I think it's optically better, but even at relatively high shutter speeds I think the IS makes quite a difference too.

Graham: yep, today didn't pan out quite as I expected, and I don't have anything to put up tomorrow yet either.

I like it, especially the eye, but then I'm a closet twitcher.

It should be! Natural history photography, well I suppose it had to come! Great detail Dave.

David, the details in this shot is awesome, looks like an evil bird though :)

Suby

Very nice details. Crisp shot.

Wow... the eye...
Great details in this beautiful shot.

Great picture. The colours are very nice and looks real (I guess no much post-treatment has been made).

Great shot of Jonathan Livingston. Just decided I was gonna get the 135 f2 L - making me wonder now!!

Great work.

Your photography is on a different level, brilliant stuff.

Aaah, the Gull is looking at me!
Great detail, and colours; excellent exposure.
How did you get the black background by the way, was it that dark??
I have a similar shot of a male gull somewhere...will post it on my blog soon..for comparison...;-)

Fantastic. Move over Andy Rouse

Hehe, i don't think Andy Rouse has much to worry about just yet :-) It is detailed though, looks almost like plastic, very odd.

What a unique view. I can't recall ever seeing a bird's eye that looked like that. That and the colors in the beak really make this shot.

Excellent work. The lighting here really makes the subject pop.

Great detail which makes it a good exercise. Not sure about the framing though. I would like something that speaks of it's character. It's interaction with the landscape.

God, I sound negative of late, so I haven't commented. I'm just not into this sort of image. Yesterdays lack of focus although at times suitable was annoying. Water beacon was a bit too minimal. Hmmm, not saying anything about the work, more about the subjects.

The glass was good and I said as much. People dwelling on the detail to this image rather than any other potential summarises the feeling I think. I like your images, just not your recent ones.

I dunnoi, yeah, the thumbnail highlights the light. I often find thumbnails distill the character of an image...

Excellent detail!

Superbe !!!

Great photo! Hate the comment about the f/4 not being as sharp because now I will want to get the f/2.8 IS - you are creating undue financial stress! I vote stuffed.

Thanks all, and it wasn't stuffed :-)

Tis sharper than a sharp thing this!

Like the totally natural toning here on the bird just looks great.

Very beautiful bird portrait.