Olive Back

Canon EOS 7D, EF 500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x Extender MK II @ 700mm, Aperture Priority @ f/8 (1/500 sec), -1 EV, ISO 800, Tripod, JPEG from RAW, Cropped about 20% from Full Frame

Subject: Olive-Backed Sunbird (male)

Location: Koh Chang, Trat, Thailand

Perhaps above all other birds there's a special place in my heart for Olive-Backed Sunbirds, as this was the first species I sighted through my first quality zoom lens right around the time I was trying to figure out what the heck I was going to be able to photograph when large mammals weren't around, and this is what I spotted from my office window sitting in my neighbour's garden!

This little guy truly ignited the flames of a passion for birds that's been burning strong ever since … well, not this exact same bird you see here (my shots of that first encounter have long since been deleted!); the one posted above I was lucky enough to encounter on the island of Koh Chang the day before my family and I returned home about a week or so ago.

This will be my last post now until I'm back from Africa in September. I'll be returning on the 6th but I'll be wanting to spend some time with my wife and daughter before getting stuck into post-processing of images, so please don't be concerned about me having been taken as a tasty snack by a ravenous Lion if you don't see me until the second half of the month …... anytime after that if I still haven't reappeared, you might wanna' do a YouTube search for any recent excitement posted up of an overzealous wildlife photographer having met his demise by going too far out on a limb ;^)

Wishing one and all, all the very best meantime :^)