Yellow-billed Bather

Gallery: AvianPosted May 29, 2011101 views7 comments

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) at my famous waterhole ;)

A common, but slow-moving and secretive denizen of woodlands, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo eats large quantities of hairy caterpillars. Its loud call is heard far more frequently than the bird is actually seen. Sometimes called the raincrow because its song is often heard just before thunderstorms or summer showers.
F/10, 1/1000th, ISO 400, 1D M3, 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x around 10:00am.
Clear & sunny. About 70% FF.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on May 29, 2011 at 9:15 AM

Howard,
very nice bird I have never seen before. Excellent detail, exposure and eye contact. Your famous waterhole calls a lot of varieties of birds. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on May 29, 2011 at 9:51 AM

Good to see you getting such great use from your waterhole Howard :^)

Excellent shot, love the detail and textures :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on May 29, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Congrats on this - these are famous for being hard to see and I've never seen one photographed at water like this.

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

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on May 29, 2011 at 2:04 PM

Yep. You're milking that waterhole. Good work on exposure here, and the rest of the techs are right on as well. Love the reflection and upturned head.

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

Comment posted by keith mitchell on May 29, 2011 at 2:34 PM

Howard that water hole certainly works,thats a nice bird and a very good image.

Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on May 29, 2011 at 9:02 PM

Great capture, Howard! Clear, detailed view of the bird too. This one does blend into the bg pretty well though. You might try experimenting with local exposure to see if you can segregate it from the bg more. I like the comp here: fine pose, interested bird and even a reflection!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on May 29, 2011 at 9:29 PM

I've never seen this bird at water either. The photo tells a nice behavioral story.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments