Hot as....

[Colin Driscoll]

What do you do when it's 42 deg C in the shade? Just sit there and hope you can survive! A Noisy Miner feeling the heat! BG is oof grass.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh296/MyPikkies/My%20Yard%20Birds/NoisyMinerHot221109.jpg

50D 100-400 @ 400 1/200 f5.6 -.33ev iso400 430EXII -.66

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hey Col
This has to be one of the most endearing Noisy Miner images I have ever seen of one of my fave Aussie birds - such a great species to hand rear! The behavior is beautifully depicted indeed! I like the comp and while I do wish for a touch more DOF to make the claws sharp, you must have been close and also I don't know what ISO you worked at to see whether upping it would have been reasonable without extra noise.

All in all, I love the image. Well spotted and taken. I have similar poses from a female nesting Mistletoebird near my house last summer. It was dang hot and she had the wings and tongue out just like your Noisy Miner.

Well done mate. :)

[Colin Driscoll]

Akos, thanks mate! Ooops I've just added the iso. Shade was fairly heavy and I was only about 3m away.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I figured you were very close. That smooth green grass is super! :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty bird, good eye contact, BG and soft light. I wish for wider DOF and might increase contrast a few points.

[Rob Drummond]

You've captured the heat really well Colin. Nice eye contact and head turn. Greater DOF would have been nice.

cheers
Rob

[James Salywoda]

Great pose captured I like the open bill and details this is such a pretty bird.