Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher in habitat

[greg cowle]

No great shakes as a photo, but I though I would share the sighting. These come down from PNG to breed in QLD in the wet season. They nest in active termite mounds on the rainforest floor, so a very secretive bird in the depths of the forest with very little light... I was riding my mountain bike up the 4WD road up Mt Lewis when I saw a flash of color go up onto this vine. Stopped to get out a camera from the backpack, but it quickly flew away. I waited 30mins without seeing anything more, but I was able to identify a well hidden nest from the muffled sounds inside a mound, so I figured it would be back again. I drove up the track a couple of days later with a full camera kit, rounding the bend the KF was on the exact same vine. It flew away, but I set up the camera on a tripod aimed at the vine and waited. Maybe 20mins later it landed on the vine, and I got 2 snaps before it left. It did reappear again later and I got another quick go. No choice but to flash, what natural light there was was from behind as you can see from the top of the bill.
800mm, 1/250, f7.1, ISO800, Flash with Magmod. Flash power was adjusted manually while waiting, not calibrated with the extender. Gaussian blur applied to background as the habitat is very busy.
They are leaving already up north, so probably have to wait until the next wet season to try again.

[gail bisson]

Wonderful sighting Greg. I have not seen an image before of this bird.
You have done well considering the light and the busy environment.
I can understand why you were at 7.1 because I would want to be sure the tail was nice and sharp but then you have to deal with the BG. Did you have time to try an aperture of 5.6 to see if that would reduce the BG impact at all?
I have no idea what magmod is so I am off to google that!
TFS,
Gail

[John Mack]

Neat looking little bird. The perch and pose is nice. Long tail is cool.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Like this capture, Greg. Good to hear the back story. Nice rich colors and I like the perch, as well as the habitat.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Jonathan Ashton]

A very well worthwhile shot I really like it and I do not object to the background. I reckon you did very well with the flash set up........I enjoyed the narrative too!

[Jim Crosswell]

Congratulations on getting an image of this beautiful bird. I like the pose and long tail.

[greg cowle]

Thanks all for you comments on my adventure and photo! I rode up the mountain again today, didn't see a single BBPK, I think I saw them at peak activity as they were fattening up the juveniles for their trip north, so I am now planning for next season with these guys - but happy I saw some in my first wet season in FNQ.

Gail: agree 5.6 could have been good, particularly with the tail down there would be no issue with DoF, and on this occasion I did not get a tail flick, I have on another bird lower down the mountain, but not in the 'open'. But my choice if aperture was a pragmatic one, I was using a 2x on the lens and it is soft at 5.6, I need to stop down to at least 7.1. I probably should get an 800 prime to be able to operate at 5.6 as I have learned down here that there are few tame birds... I use the Magmod flash extender. Similar functionality to the Better Beamer, but a robust design which is really quick to get on and off the flash, and compresses to a small size for packing. Only downside I see from the BB is weight.