Metallic Starling

Gallery: AvianPosted November 16, 2013135 views10 comments

One of many Australian birds with incredible eyes. Del Richards took us to a local school athletic field in Mossman as one of our first stops. These are colonial nesters and a tree was literally full of their nests-you can see parts of two of them in this image. Unfortunately the light was still pretty low, hence the low shutter speed. I have an enormous number of blurred images, but I think this and a few others worked well.

7D, 300mm f4 + 1.4TC, hand held, f8, iso 640, 1/100, Av mode with no compensation. Processed in CS6 and cropped to 10.3 MP. Taken in Mossman, Queensland on October 18th at 9:16 am local time.

Your comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on November 16, 2013 at 7:45 PM

Dennis, This image works well with good DOF and low shutter speed/handheld. Very cool bird. Others may have issue with the slight head turn, but it works for me. Thanks for posting. Dave

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on November 17, 2013 at 2:25 AM

I think it works extremely well. No blur in this one.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on November 17, 2013 at 11:10 AM

Very nice, Dennis.
I actually think the head is in a nice pose.
Wonderful eyes.

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on November 17, 2013 at 11:19 AM

Congratulations Dennis, this is really nice, love the eyes and the habitat. What a great trip..... looking forward to viewing many more.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on November 17, 2013 at 12:23 PM

Wow, that's a captivating eye. And the whole birds looks a little painting like because of those smooth violet lines in plumage. By the way, the detail and color in what I suppose can come out as a black birds is wonderful. An otherwise busy background, turns out very well here, especially knowing that its nest material around.

Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 18, 2013 at 6:09 AM

You've captured the plumage characteristics really well Dennis. Sometimes overcast conditions are better

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on November 18, 2013 at 10:11 AM

Excellent exposure with nice composition and habitat.

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

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on November 18, 2013 at 3:47 PM

I like pose and plumage detail accurately captured, and that amazing red eye.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on November 19, 2013 at 7:38 AM

I like the way this natural setting has framed the starling..
And the metallic sheen along with the blood red eye's striking.
Great job in the low light using the relatively low s-speed too.
I have one captive zoo shot of this one, through glass no less

Well done

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on November 19, 2013 at 12:42 PM

Very cool shot. I love the habitat of foilage and nest material. You did a good job of capturing the iridescense in the dark feathers and that red eye really pops. I like the pose and the head position as is.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments