Kes

A Kestrel hovers in an up draft moments before swooping down on its prey.

Taken in overcast conditions which have helped make a relatively balanced exposure, between the highlights and shadows. I used ISO 800 to get the shutter speed up (noise reduction applied), no exposure compensation (although it could have used +2/3 ev as I lightened it when I processed the raw image). 400mm focal length (and cropped), aperture f/5.6.

Interestingly, I also took a set of 5 photos of it hovering using high-speed continuous drive mode (hold the button down and the camera takes continuous photos) and in each one the bird was in exactly the same position. As the 50D takes photos in this mode at about six frames a second, I guess that the Kestrel just happened to be flapping its wings at about 6 beats a second too! So each photo was taken with the wings in the same place. Bizarre!