Groove-billed Ani

Gallery: AvianPosted March 27, 2011161 views10 comments

Olympus E-5, 300mm, laying on ground
f7.1, 1/320, ISO800

This is a re-post. The earlier post from my uncalibrated laptop lost the greenish-purple highlights in the neck feathers.

The ani is a member of the cuckoo family. They are generalist feeders, and have a fascinating communal breeding strategy, involving 1-5 unrelated breeding pairs and cooperative incubation and feeding of young.

I got some strange looks, laying on the ground in a city park in Guayaquil, EC to get this photo.

Full frame. Selective sharpening of bird.

C & C, please. Thanks for looking.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on March 27, 2011 at 2:11 PM

Very unusual bird, Jim. I like the eye level view and how you handled the light. Your comp and the background make the ani stand out. You also got a great head turn and the details on its beak are phenomenal. I would like to see a little more details on the feathers on its breast and leg.

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

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 27, 2011 at 2:25 PM

A tough exposure Jim. You handled it well. I like the head turn and the great look at this bird's head. DOF is a bit short, but not much you could do given your already slow SS and relatively high ISO. Work nicely for me as posted.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 27, 2011 at 3:43 PM

Excellent! These are such interesting birds and I have seen so few of them. The soft light worked welll. The setting is unexpected and works very well.

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

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on March 27, 2011 at 4:37 PM

Strange looking critter, Jim. Love the detail on the beak. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't pick up more body detail using f/7.1.

Great job, especially getting down to his level.

Cheers,

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on March 27, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Tough conditions with all that black, but exposure is right on here. Love the pov, which wasd well worth the looks imo.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on March 27, 2011 at 9:22 PM

Black birds are so hard to get right, this looks right on to me.

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

Comment posted by Dan Walters on March 27, 2011 at 11:35 PM

Cool looking bird! Like the details in the blacks.

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by mark cillo on March 28, 2011 at 9:36 AM

This is a really interesting bird. It really has some "dinosaur" characteristics. Nice shot

Registered on July 27, 2008, 143 Posts, 1483 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 28, 2011 at 4:40 PM

Excellent capture Jim. the detail in the large version shows nicely. I've seen the Smooth-billed but never the Grove-billed. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 28, 2011 at 5:19 PM

Wow, talk about standing out in the crowd, black bird on green grass. What an unusual looking bird. I like that you go a nice head turn to really show the beak, way to go Jim.

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