Swallow-tailed Kite

Image # 1D2_07124

Coot Bay Pond, near Flamingo, Everglades National Park

Canon 600L/f4 IS with 1.4x II Teleconverter

ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/2500 second

Manual Exposure

Gitzo 1329/Arca Swiss B1/Wimberley Sidekick

Prior to this trip, I don't think I had any shots of a Swallow-tailed Kite, and was really hoping to get something.  When we first pulled into the parking lot the first day at Anhinga Trail, I spotted one soaring, but it disappeared quickly, and I didn't see any more.  While photographing the birds on Coot Bay Pond, one of them appeared high in the sky above us.  It passed by a time or two, disappeared for a good 20 minutes or so, and then re-appeared.  So we had a few chances to get some shots.  The light was working against us, however, and the Kite was heavily shadowed in most of these.  The image here is the best I was able to get, although ironically, it came in close enough that I ended up clipping its wings!