Gallery: A Magnificent Frigatebird—in the Sky with Diamonds

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.”