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View Full Version : Juan Fernandez Firecrown


Arthur Grosset
02-20-2008, 04:33 AM
There are only about 200 of these birds and they are restricted to about 11 square kilometres of Robinson Crusoe Island about 500 miles off the coast of Chile. In their isolation they have developed into rather chunky hummers and tend to perch rather than hover.

This was taken with a 20D, 400mm f/4.0 at f/4.0, 1/320 and ISO 400, handheld.
I then cropped it slightly, removed a twig using the Quick Mask technique, slightly sharpened the eye and bill and added some gaussian blur to the background.
John Cooper
02-20-2008, 06:02 AM
A pretty little bird Arthur and quite rare it would seem. Pity you struck him in such a congested habitat. I would be inclined to crop right hand side about 1/3 of the frame eliminating the bulk of tangled branches.
John Chardine
02-20-2008, 07:04 AM
A super treat to see such a rare endemic. I wonder if the moderators are keeping track of the species covered by the site? This is the male of course, the female being more traditional (for a hummer) green. I've seen the mainland relative of this species- the Green-backed Firecrown- in Chile. Is Juan Fernandez difficult to get to?

I agree with John- I would have cropped out the right side branches as they to not add much to the image. The birds head would then lie over the top right third.
Arthur Grosset
02-20-2008, 09:20 AM
Is Juan Fernandez difficult to get to?



John,
It is about 500 miles west of Santiago and quite a pantomime to get there. There are flights from Santiago in smallish 20 seater planes and the flight time is almost 2 hours. It's quite shambolic. We turned up at the airport at 7:30 for an 8:30 flight and we took off at about 11:00 (sounds normal when I write it.) But you do get weighed along with your baggage.
The landing strip is on the east of the island but the town is on the west so there is a 40 minute boat ride to get there.
When we were there the wind started blowing on day 3 and the fishing port was closed so the flights were cancelled. We eventually flew back after an additional 3 days. Marooned on Robinson Crusoe Island - unbelievable!