Common Cuckoo by Neil Jones
A juvenile Common Cuckoo being fed by its Meadow Pipit foster parent taken by Neil Jones is this week’s winning shot. I imagine there are many (like me) that have never witnessed this let alone had a chance to photograph it, and I’m always a little envious whenever I see such shots.
Whether the photographer could not get closer or chose not to I don’t know, but I really like the fact that it is not a full-frame edge-to-edge crop. It shows the habitat perfectly and has a great atmosphere to it, with the cuckoo perched nicely on a branch begging for food and with both species’ heads being well positioned.
Congratulations to Neil on his great capture of this fascinating behaviour; he used an 800mm lens and shot at 1/400th second at f5.6 on ISO1000.
Other notable images
Green Woodpeckers (Dean Eades)
White-rumped Sandpiper (Jonathan Farooqi)
Common Kingfisher (Bob Garrett)
Cory's Shearwater (Joe Pender)
Common Swift (Mick Davis)
Black-shouldered Kite (Graeme Risdon)
House Sparrow (Craig Richardson)
- You can read more on bird photography from Steve Young, including product reviews and a regular Photo Challenge for readers, every month in Birdwatch magazine.