#12 Liron Gertsman - Birds In Flight - Bronze
‘Scattered throughout the Amazon basin are hundreds of clay licks where parrots, parakeets and macaws come to eat clay and neutralize the acidic fruits that they eat. Getting to the clay lick (and watering hole) where I took this photo required a regional flight, a three-hour boat ride upstream, and a short canoe ride to get to base camp. From base camp, it took another short boat ride and a 30 minute hike (a longer hike than usual due to low water levels in July 2017) each day to get to the clay lick. It took many hours of waiting over three days before we were treated to the sight of hundreds of Cobalt-winged Parakeets raining down on the forest floor. Seeing them and hearing the deafening roar of parakeet chatter was an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget. After they drank the mineral rich-water and ate some clay, it was over; this photo captures the chaos as the parakeets took to the air, heading back to the canopy. I used a slow shutter speed to convey movement as the birds took to the air.