Out of the blue......

Have you ever had it where something happens that you just weren't expecting, (of course you have) well that happened to me today. I had a text message come through from my fellow bird photographer pal Douglas McFarland congratulating me on my "Picture of the week" on the "BirdGuides" website.............WHAT!!!!!   It came as a complete surprise especially when you consider the other 500 or so high quality images that were also uploaded by fellow bird photographers. Personally I would have thought many of their images deserved the accolade more than mine, but I'm not complaining I'm very grateful and I'll gladly take it! And to think I nearly didn't even bother uploading the image! I suppose "the pose" the owl was holding is different but it was a massive crop which defiantly resulted in loss of quality. This first image is the full frame original before I cropped it. And this next image is the cropped version that I uploaded, a big difference hey?    Below is the citation from the Birdguides team that accompanied my image..... "If you were to mention Little Owls to BirdGuides regulars, most would immediately think of Paul Riddle. Paul's phenomenal devotion to this species is well known and he has shared with us over 400 images of the birds he has come across in his monitoring and conservation activities. Given that he has located more than 200 Little Owl territories over the past four years, it's no surprise that Paul has captured images showing these birds in almost every imaginable pose, both perched and in flight. This week, though, we were entertained by his unusually posed shot of a juvenile bird with one wing and one foot outstretched. Presumably, the young owl was just having a stretch, but it's easy to interpret its expression and body language as a suggestion that Paul take his camera elsewhere! A great illustration of the fact that, to a creative photographer, birds are an inexhaustible subject".

Photo of the Week citation (admin), today 12:27 To say I'm chuffed is a total understatement!!!