On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . seven swans a-swimming
Traditional Christmas song
It’s not Christmas and I don’t have seven swans a-swimming, only the lone one above photographed in a local park during a Covid lockdown. But I do have seven other birds from various locations across the world.
I’ve squared them for Becky’s #SevenforSeptember Squares challenge, and converted them to black and white for Leanne’s Monochrome Madness challenge. I missed last week’s bird theme, set by Elke from Pictures Imperfect, so I thought I would adopt that for this week’s theme-free challenge.
As always I’ve used Nik Silver Efex Pro to convert the images. Some you will have seen before but I think (hope!) not in black and white). Several of these birds are of course naturally black and white (the penguin, the tufted duck, the pied kingfisher), which perhaps guided my selection. I hope you enjoy this ornithological world tour!
PS I know the swan makes it eight birds in total, but that one isn’t squared so I’m hoping Becky will ignore it!
Tufted duck, Boston Manor Park, west London (where my header swan was also captured)
Grey Owl at a birds of prey centre in Bedfordshire, England
Bald eagle, Push, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State
African fish eagle, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Pied Kingfisher by the Gambia River
Roseate Spoonbill in a mangrove by the Rio Nosara, Costa Rica
Gentoo penguin, Antarctica
38 Comments
Ruth Rosenfeld
The owl face close up is stunning!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Ruth – owls are amazing!
Annie Berger
Got to play a family favorite this time as my mother was from Bedford so the Grey Owl is the one I’m selecting as my go-to shot!
Annie
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, that’s a fun reason to pick a favourite 😀
eklastic
Thank you so much for sharing, Sarah. I was sure I had told you already but I cannot find my comment or like (either I’m dreaming of posting or my comments get lost, I have to pay more attention, I think). It’s in the eyes … not mine, your birds! That duck has such a bright eye in such dark feathers, it looks almost malicious but I’m sure it’s not. And the owl’s eyes are simply mesmerizing. Great captures!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much for the lovely comment 😊 This went into my spam folder for some reason, but it’s the first from you on this post, I didn’t see any other. I appreciate you taking the trouble to check and to make sure I got your feedback. I do see what you mean about the eyes – I find it’s often the way with the more successful wildlife photos!
eklastic
I’ll definitely try to pay more attention to the eyes from now on.
Amy
Magnificent bird images in black and white! The details of the owl is incredible.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy – I do love owls 🙂
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
Sarah these are great, the look good in B&W
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Ritva, I’m so pleased you like them 😊
grandmisadventures
Great collection of feathered friends. That owl picture is particularly stunning- I love how you can see every line of feather spreading out from the eyes 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg 🙂 Owls’ faces are amazing!
Anonymous
Owls are amazing – sometimes they look grumpy when I think they are not really. Bald eagles also – seem to scowl at you. I gave my oldest grandson (who has a beard), a sweatshirt with a bald eagle on it and the caption said “I AM smiling”
The roseate spoonbill really looks goofy in black and white. When you see him in color, the pink is so amazing that you don’t even notice his “expression”.
Penguins are the quintessential black and white birds – along with ravens maybe.
Rosalie
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Rosalie 😀 Yes, I know just what you mean about bald eagles, but not just grumpy – haughty as well, I feel! That’s an interesting point about the spoonbill and it is the case that B&W often helps you see certain details that are less obvious when you’re distracted by colour. And I totally agree about penguins 🐧 Our ravens are pure black however, not black and white – I didn’t realise yours had white on them!
Leanne Cole
Great collection of birds Sarah, they look great in monochrome.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Leanne ☺️
thehungrytravellers.blog
Some great bird shots here…it’s so rewarding when you find you’ve captured a bird in a good pose…Michaela loves it when she captures them.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Phil 😊 I feel the same – they can be hard to get so it’s really rewarding when a shot comes off!
Image Earth Travel
Love the owl photo and well done taking this!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂 I’m always intrigued by owls!
the eternal traveller
They all posed very nicely for you.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – yes, they did, although I have plenty of examples of bird shots that didn’t work out so well!
the eternal traveller
Don’t we all. They’re not always so cooperative.
bushboy
Some birds look good in B&W Well done, I love the Gentoo penguin
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian 🙂 That’s an old slide, it took quite a bit of work to get it to look presentable! But I love penguins, so well worth the effort 🐧
bushboy
It was 👍😀
kzmcb
Great birds Sarah. And great minds must think alike – I’ve planned a visit to a waterhole this week where I know there are swans and hoping to get seven in the one shot.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂 And good luck with the swan hunt – seven in one shot will be quite something!
margaret21
Well, the swan and the tufted duck are the only ones I have seen ‘for real’ (not counting ones in captivity), so this gallery is particularly marvellous – and they work so well as squares.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret ☺️ Those are my two local shots, I had to travel a fair bit to get the others. Oh, well not the owl in Bedfordshire, but then he was in captivity!
margaret21
Oh, I hoped that was clever sleuthing!
Sarah Wilkie
Gosh no! I did ‘fess up in my caption 😀
BeckyB
oh these are marvellous and I am very envious that you have seen a Roseate Spoonbill
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Becky 🙂 It was a thrill to see them (yes, ‘them’ – there were several in that tree!)
BeckyB
wow 😀
Anne Sandler
Great black and white conversions Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 🙂