Darwin's Sm Ground Finch

Gallery: AvianPosted January 25, 2012279 views4 comments

We were "stuck" on San Cristobal Island for 3 days. The airline (Embete) we were scheduled to fly out on said, "no fuel today, come back tomorrow same time."

We returned the next day, and they helpfully suggested, "no fuel today also, maybe there is boat to where you are going?"

We took the boat the next morning.

This image was taken right outside the airport in San Cristobal, which was one of the best places to shoot on the island, I found. In fact, I think it was my favorite spot. There were all kinds of interesting flora; fruits and seed pods had fallen to the ground, and the finches were having a royal feast.

Small Ground Finch
Geospiza fuliginosa
San Cristobal Island, the Galapagos
January 2012
Canon 7D
300mm f4 + 1.4TC
f 5.6 - I probably should have stopped down for image quality?
1/2000 s
ISO 400

I struggled a bit with the crop because of the background bird shadowing the main subject. I finally decided I didn't mind him, but not sure he'll go over well with the experts?

Thanks in advance for C&C!

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 26, 2012 at 7:35 AM

Always fun to see these notable finches. The foreground bird looks good but I'm less fond of the OOF one.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 26, 2012 at 7:54 AM

Cool to see this species, Rebecka. I like the interesting setting and the main subject but agree, I'm not crazy about the oof bird. Given his presence though, I think you chose the right comp.

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

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 26, 2012 at 4:57 PM

I agree with Ron and Brian's assessment of this shot Rebecka.

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

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on January 26, 2012 at 7:06 PM

Beautiful shot of the in-focus bird. Do you have enough resolution to do a vertical crop, eliminating the other bird? From the large version, it looks like you do. To give the bird more space to look into, maybe need to do some cloning out of a portion of the OOF bird.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments