Flight from the Hip

I'm rather pleased with this photo. I had my camera in hand as I walked from work to the railway station this afternoon. On it there was of course my Pentax lens (so of course manual focus and aperture), and I also had the camera on manual mode (shutter and ISO). I set the aperture and focus in such a way that if I got a flyover, the settings would (I thought/hoped) be about right to capture the birdie.

As I neared the station there was a great squawking as of cockatoos, and over they came, one by one. The buggers were quick though; I only had time to swing the camera up to point vaguely in the right direction - nowhere near my eye, to actually aim properly - and click the shutter, hoping I caught it.

I was pleasantly surprised with the detail in the flight feathers, the light on the back and wing edges, and the overall look of it - especially cropped (essentially I just took out a whole bunch more silhouetted tree).

Not sure how much larger it will go, given the cropping, but it might be worth a click.