AbysinnianGroundHornbill

Gallery: AvianPosted May 9, 2013109 views11 comments

Quite different in both colour and beak structure from the more familiar Southern Ground Hornbill, this one came close enough for me to poke my lens through a pop top vehicle (I hate these not enough room to swing a cat

)

Taken in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

EOS 1DX
500mm F4 MkII
F6.3
ISO 1600
1/2500

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on May 9, 2013 at 6:29 AM

Lovely colours and detail Ken, right down to the wee spider. Interesting air vent on the bill.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Claude Dagenais on May 9, 2013 at 7:55 AM

Nice detail on this odd looking bird Ken and a good BG to boot.

Registered on April 10, 2013, 56 Posts, 571 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Jenkins on May 9, 2013 at 8:55 AM

Nice exposure on the blacks on this unusual looking bird. Nice BG too. The OOF plant in the lower right hand corner is the only distraction and a slight one.

Registered on April 20, 2008, 307 Posts, 604 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Marella on May 9, 2013 at 9:56 AM

That's amazing! Color, detail, BG, and bird are fantastic!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 142 Posts, 862 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on May 9, 2013 at 11:36 AM

The black tones almost seem too dark on my monitor--almost--but they and the rest of the colors really contrast nicely with that background. I like the small details... the spider and the broken(?) horn add some character.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on May 9, 2013 at 12:26 PM

Exceptional portrait!
Love the colours, detail, spider - everything is excellent!
The bit of detail lost in the blacks could be recovered in a program like Viveza -
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Suzanne Huot on May 9, 2013 at 2:19 PM

such an interesting looking bird .love the close-up portrait of him.great details too.
cheers

Registered on December 28, 2010, 32 Posts, 240 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on May 9, 2013 at 2:32 PM

Wow, awesome detail in the larger version. I might bring up the brightness overall just a tad.

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

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on May 9, 2013 at 5:11 PM

Especially larger version is impressive of this rare bird with sharp detail, nice BG. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on May 9, 2013 at 8:05 PM

Great portrait Ken, the spider prey puts it over the top.

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on May 10, 2013 at 2:22 AM

Thanks very much to everybody for your comments, which are much appreciated.
The upper beak is called a "casque" its uses are still a mystery ranging from battering ram to amplification of its call.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments