Brown-hooded Kingfisher

[Morkel Erasmus]

I've had good opportunities in the past to photograph the more commonly found species in our region - the Malachite, Pied and Woodlands Kingfishers (and I've even had some good sightings of the Giant Kingfisher) - but there are some that have eluded me thus far in terms of getting a nice usable photo. These are the Half-collared Kingfisher, the African Pygmy Kingfisher and the Brown-hooded Kingfisher.

Well, one of them can now be taken off the "never photographed" list. On the recent Wild Eye Chobe Photographic Safari that I hosted, we were able to get nice and close to a Brown-hooded Kingfisher that had a nest in the bank of the Chobe river. Lighting conditions were challenging as it was at the end of the day in the shade of a large tree, but we all got some portraits we can be pretty pleased with.

Next up - to find the Half-collared and Pygmy!!

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0 | 1/1000 SS | ISO-1800

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Excellent image, well photographed with good BG, nice pose, and eye contact. Congrats on getting this one.

[Bill Dix]

Never seen this one. Congratulations on finding and photographing him. And very nicely, too. Good techs, pose and nice bg. For my personal taste I might imagine leaving just a tad more space on top.

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely looking image, i love the exposure and sharpness
great over all IQ
head turn is sweet
Congrats on getting this one

[gail bisson]

This is really nice Morkel.
I like your crop but could see a version with a bit more on top. The perch is a nice size for the kingfisher and the diagonal line created by the branch adds to the image
Light challenges were handled very well,
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Congratulations on a bucket list bird. Nice image captured under difficult conditions. Thank you for sharing.

[Grace Scalzo]

Nicely done, Morkel. I could see a bit more room on top and just a point or two of brightness. (I realize the conditions were tough). Love your blog, by the way.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions folks - will revisit the crop and the exposure here :cheers:

[keith mitchell]

Good luck with the" Half-collared and Pygmy" Morkel,must say it all looks fine to me, I would be very pleased to have this.

Cheers Keith.

[S Govindarajan]

Congrats on getting this beauty, Morkel. The image looks great with a perfect head-turn. Not sure if you had enough light to go to a smaller aperture and get the tail also in focus. Rest of the techs look spot on. I would like to see a little more room at the bottom also.