Skip to main content

Gallery: A Magnificent Frigatebird—in the Sky with Diamonds

Black and white photo of a solar eclipse with a slender, long-winged bird with a fork tail flying in silhouette.
Magnificent Frigatebird silhouetted against a solar eclipse. Photo by Liron Gertsman.

From the Summer 2024 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now.

Canadian photographer Liron Gertsman spent over a year dreaming and planning to create a magnificent bird image during a rare celestial event—the total solar eclipse in April.

Gertsman did research to find a spot in Sinaloa, Mexico, where he could maximize the time of totality (more than four minutes).

With the help of local charter boat captains, he positioned himself off the coast of Mazatlan near some islets where seabirds reliably swooped around the sky.

When the eclipse arrived, Gertsman made his dream into reality in those precious few moments when rays of sunlight reemerged from eclipse:

“As the moon began to uncover the edge of the sun at the end of totality, I captured this image of a Magnificent Frigatebird in front of the spectacular diamond ring.”

How did Gertsman get the shot?

Watch the video to find out more about Gertsman’s quest to capture “the best photo of my career.”

You can check out more photos by Liron Gertsman on his photography website.

The Cornell Lab

All About Birds
is a free resource

Available for everyone,
funded by donors like you

American Kestrel by Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library

Table of Contents Prev Article Next Article