One important Photography technique...
 

Simply L U C K.

The image is not mine but because it is one of the recent circulating ones in rapid rate and number on emails, thought may be nice for others to see too. Also if you know who is the photographer please inform me of credits.

May happen once in a million or billion shoot.

Could the birds have been manipulated?

Definitely, the tell tale signs are there.

Still a good idea though... :)

Out of interest, what are the tell tale signs.

If you look closely at the birds, you can see wiggly lines around the outside. These lines are not caused by motion, but by the incorrect feathering & matching of the pixels when dropping the birds into the main photo. I'm afraid it is a photoshop job badly done.

Still very clever

Probably a PS job but I am not a 100% sure. Yes there is lots of weird fringing around the birds but it is also there around the trees and everything else at the bottom of the image as well.

Looks like JPEG compression artefacts to me, especially round the birds.

Stephen and Derek;
Image is not mine so I don't know if it is manupuilated or not, but it is quite common to get that pixalation effect at the edge of a contrasty subject/Background when you resize original image for web. That to me by no means is an indicative of photoshop. In fact if I was to photoshop one such an image, I would make sure to blur the edge to prevent one such a thought as a person doing pp, usually enlarge his field at magnifications several times higher than what a naked viewer eye at the end is expected to see. Then the unsharpness seen at infinity is quit similar to the birds' so may be they are both from the same lens. I personally have a feeling that it is all natural but well I am also spaculating.

I definitely go with Lello. No mater how you look at it, it is brillient and senses tell you,it is naturally possible but one in ? chances. Bringing us back to the that chance elements in the success of a photographer.

To the uneducated eye,this shot looks perfectly bona fide.
Could be manipulated,but if so ,very good.