Pin-tailed Whydah

[Kirsten Frost]

A male Pin-tailed Whydah waves his tail feathers while calling and displaying its breeding plumage to surrounding females. Photographed in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve near my home in Cape Town, South Africa.

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS Windows
Date/Time: 2008:01:14 09:18:33
Shutter speed: 1/640 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 500
Lens: 400mm 5.6 (with 1.4x TC)
Focal length: 560mm

[Peregrine Craig Nash]

Wow kirsten saw these in Namibia but didnt get a shot like this. I like the motion blur in the wings.

[Gus Cobos]

Great capture, Love the action and the colors on your bird...:D

[Philip Lombard]

Super shot, nice job.

[Ken Watkins]

We get these in our garden Greyton, Overberg) I have never been able to capture a picture as good as yours absolutely marvelous!!!

[Glenn Bartley]

What a cool bird. Excellently captured. I love the BG and motion.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful action in this image and a killer BG too. Like this image a lot !!!!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Great wing position,eye contact,colors and bg,great work,like this a lot!!!!!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Kirsten,
I love the BG and the wing blur........but I would have preferred a bit more DOF for the tail........but that's my preference.
Well done

[Freddy Franzella]

A fine looking bird! well done with this! I like the way the bird stands out against the background!

[Juan Russo]

Excellently captured

[Doug Brown]

Truly an excellent photo. Sharp where it needs to be, but still conveys a sense of motion. Great BG too.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

I love this photo! It is so different and interesting compared to most of the images of static birds posted here. Congrats!

[Cindy Cone]

Wonderful capture of this bird! As stated above, very sharp for the head and body and a great sense of motion with the wings and tail. Big congrats!

[Alfred Forns]

I love it all !!!! This is one fine image !!! Big Congrats !!!!

[Ed Cordes]

I like the curved flow of the image. The wing blur is also a plus. Beautiful bird.

[Kirsten Frost]

Thanks for the good feedback all. Really enjoyed photographing this beauty - was quite impressed with the quality of the 400 5.6 and 1.4x TC combo here.

[David Fletcher]

Superb shot. Love the blur and the bg. Dave