2019 Bird Portrait Contest finalists

Photographer: Rajesh Mohan

Location and date: Bonaventure National Park, Quebec, Canada, July 26, 2017

Description: This photograph of a Northern Gannet is special for me. I wanted an intimate photograph that showed the sharp features of this bird that enable it to perform extraordinary tactics. It can dive into water at 60mph, brace the impact, quickly adapt the eyes from the glittering surface above water to underwater to chase down a fish. In all this, the beak and the eyes play a big role I used a 600mm +1.4x and scanned the birds for this frame. Finally, on the second day, late in the day, the light changed to something magical and everything came together. And one bird turned to give this perfect frame of the beak, the lines, and both the eyes. It looks more mechanical like a high performance rocket ready to take off. Shortly after I took the shot, the ranger nudged me to leave to catch the last ferry out.

Gear and settings: Canon 600mm+1.4x on Mark IV on tripod. 1/1250 sec, ISO 640.