Spotted Wood-Quail

Gallery: AvianPosted April 11, 2010165 views14 comments

I was surprised to find this bird off a mountain trail above the Savegre River. These quail are uncommon in the Talamanca Cordillera of Costa Rica, and although the bird is partially concealed with vegetation I thought it was a cool capture and might make a neat habitat shot. The canopy blocked a significant amount of the late afternoon light and therefore a long shutter speed was necessary.

Thanks for looking and I appreciate your comments.

D300
300mm f2.8
TC-14E II
1/15sec@f4
ISO 800

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on April 11, 2010 at 9:08 PM

Great image, Chuck. Very sharp for the shutter speed. I like the great eye, alert pose and three dimensional quality of the quail particularly in the larger version. The surrounding vegetation greatly enhances the image.

Thanks for sharing this!

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on April 11, 2010 at 10:34 PM

I'm sympathetic with your low challenge; been there, done that. Got those who haven't birded Central America, this is a very hard bird to see, let alone photograph. Serious props for the photo. Very nice work under the conditions. Minor nit: it looks like your focus point was the shoulder and not the eye, or you had a tiny bit ofmotion...

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on April 11, 2010 at 11:01 PM

Wonderful capture of this gorgeous quail. You did well with what you had to work with...and I'd be thrilled to have seen him, yet alone capture this. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 12, 2010 at 12:56 AM

Very impressive; very nice image. A fine looking bird.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 12, 2010 at 6:09 AM

Fantastic Charles - great looking bird and I like the partial concealment

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 12, 2010 at 8:46 AM

nice work Chuck--you got a really nice view of the "important" parts of the bird within a habitat where it sounds like it's usually impossible to see an entire bird. looks great for the SS too.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Walt Sterneman on April 12, 2010 at 9:47 AM

Nice shot Charles. The sharpness at the eye is great. How did you get him to hold that still for a 1/15 sec. shutter speed? lol.

Registered on March 24, 2010, 73 Posts, 1268 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 12, 2010 at 11:58 AM

A species I'd love to see let alone photograph. Great job at 1/15, congrats Chuck

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on April 12, 2010 at 12:56 PM

This is terrific! Love the low perspective, you really feel like you're down there with him.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on April 12, 2010 at 2:44 PM

Chuck,
I really like the low angle, the eye and plumage pattern so well captured in difficult condition.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Danzenbaker on April 12, 2010 at 2:48 PM

Chuck,

I don't think I've ever seen a photo posted in this forum that has inspired so much "I wish that were mine" sentiment in me. I've spent some time in that area and never even seen this bird, and that's not for lack of searching. Major kudos first for just finding it, and then for actually getting what's a really great photo of it. Even though imperfect, given the species and its difficulty, I don't think you could ask for better. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the best photo ever taken of this bird, which is saying something given that this is a pretty well-birded area. Just fantastic.

Registered on December 2, 2003, 40 Posts, 791 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on April 12, 2010 at 8:35 PM

Thanks to all who took the time to post comments. I know this bird is difficult to find and rarely seen, but I want assure you I did nothing extraordinary to capture this image-I just got real lucky finding him off the trail.
Again, thanks for your comments, I greatly appreciate the sentiments.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 12, 2010 at 10:19 PM

Pretty sharp for 1/15. Neat capture and I don't mind the vegetation covering him since that seems to be the case with them.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 12, 2010 at 11:55 PM

Beautiful, Charles. Great shot of the eye.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments