Greater Flamingos

© Richard Seeley

Published: December 5, 2011

Greater Flamingos gain momentum for takeoff from the surface of Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Richard Seeley took the photo during a safari in August 2011. He and his travel companions arrived late in the day, and the sunlight was fading fast. They jumped in two small boats, hoping the light would last long enough to take a few photos of the pink, white, and black birds.

"I was able to capture this small micro group out of the hundreds that were streaming past our boat," he says, "by using my Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/2.8 lens set to ISO 800 for a 1/4000 of a second shutter speed at f/2.8 and handheld. It was breathtaking to be surrounded by such clamor, sound, and motion. Soon it would be dark. We returned to camp exhausted but exhilarated and very happy that we had made the right decision to proceed to the lake."

See Richard's previous Photos of the Week:
Atlantic Puffin
Osprey
Piping Plover

See more photos of African birds:
African Pygmy-falcon
African Skimmers
African Spoonbill
Crowned Hawk-eagle
Lesser Flamingos
Secretarybird
Shoebill
Southern Masked Weaver
Striped Kingfisher
White-bellied Go-away-bird
Woodchat Shrike
Woodland Kingfisher

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