Long-tailed Mockingbirds

Gallery: AvianPosted March 7, 2011167 views13 comments

Here's a shot from our recent trip to Ecuador. A walk down a country road yielded this image. This species is one of the most common birds in Southwestern Ecuador living among towns, farms etc. Here I was focused on the bird which took off and trying to get a flight shot of it when I saw the other bird come into the frame as I was shooting. It was like a game of musical chairs. This is about 80% of the the original image. There was a bit of a cyan cast to the original so I moved the color balance away from cyan toward red about 8 pts in PS.

MkIV 500F4 1.4x 1/3200 F7.1, iso 800, handheld, evaluative metering -0.3

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 8, 2011 at 6:33 AM

Great effort to get eye contact and focus on both birds Nate. Really like this. Maybe a little more room at the bottom if you have any.

cheers
Rob

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 8, 2011 at 3:09 PM

Thanks Rob, I don't have any more room at the bottom unfortuately. I considered going with a pano and cropping more from the top but decided to go with a standard 2x3

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 8, 2011 at 4:06 PM

Sweet Action Nate

The wing spread and fanned tail of the incoming bird seems to add a nice balance to the photo.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on March 8, 2011 at 6:04 PM

Nate,
Sometimes it's good to be lucky. Great story of how you go the shot. I would love to get down to Central America one day. I hear there are more species of birds there than anywhere on earth. It must have been a wonderful trip for you Nate. It looks like the one bird landing is telling the one in front of him to, "put your wings out like this and get your tail flared, otherwise your going to drop like a rock." Just thought I'd have a little fun with this one Nate. Boy that one landing is beautiful. Thanks for the story and the picture to go with it.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 8, 2011 at 6:13 PM

Thanks David. Actually Ecuador is in South America. Ecuador has more birds than any country in Central America, over 1,500 species occur in a country which is roughly the size of Nevada. Peru, Brazil and Colombia have even more species but they are much, much larger than Ecuador.

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

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on March 8, 2011 at 7:41 PM

Nice to capture them both and in neat poses. You really clicked the shutter just perfectly on this one. Not sure about the comp, but it is a fun photo to view. Sharon

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

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 8, 2011 at 9:02 PM

Very cool Nate. Tough enough to get one bird in flight. You got two. I think I would be tempted to take some from the top.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by John Blumenkamp on March 8, 2011 at 9:46 PM

Hi Nate... great timing, and I like that you captured both birds with one coming and one going. That wing spread of the mockingbird on the right is awesome.

P.S. Thanks for the welcome to NPN on my previous post!

Registered on February 26, 2011, 58 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on March 9, 2011 at 8:39 AM

Very nice Nate. I noticed when I was down there that the mockingbirds always wanted someone else's perch even when there was a perfectly good empty one right next door. I like the spread tail and wings on the incoming bird.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on March 9, 2011 at 8:54 AM

The action here is just great like they are playing a game of follow the leader. Excellent techs as always.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on March 9, 2011 at 9:35 PM

Nice action and with both birds in perfect focus, very rare (for me anyway!).

Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 10, 2011 at 1:01 AM

Nice job getting both birds in focus, not an easy thing to do. Interesting to see the wings and tail spread out on the approaching bird, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on March 10, 2011 at 2:27 AM

Most interesting capture and well done getting both birds sharp. I'd be tempted to lop a bit from the top.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments