Ultramarine Flycatcher

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Camera : Canon 1D Mk III
Lens : Canon 600mm f4 IS
Aperture : f 5
ISO : 1250
Shutters : 1/500 s

Got this migrant beauty at Sinhagad Valley , Pune . These would come near the stream early morning to quench their thirst and bathe in the water . Was quite lucky to get a clear shot .

Cheers,
Rakesh

[Randy Stout]

Rakesh:

A beauty for sure!

Sharp,well exposed.

The out of focus foreground element to the right of the bird is somewhat distracting. You could reduce its impact slightly by darking the branches where it crosses in front of them.

If the IQ will tolerate it, I might consider cropping in from the left to convert it to a loose vertical, still leaving adequate room for him to look into.

Cheers

Randy

[Pieter de Waal]

Beautiful colours and good detail especially in the whites Rhakesh. Nice eye contact. I tend to agree with Randy re cropping to minimise the impact of the heavy branches

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Lovely looking bird and super colours. I would also go with Randy's suggestion, still a lovely image TFS:cheers::cheers:

[Tom Rambaut]

I do agree with trying an vertical crop - may be a 8x10 crop? There is too much space i think too the left.

This is a super little bird. TFS

[AlvanBuckley]

Wow, beautiful bird. Great detail in the bird with a good HA. Normally I wouldn't mind a loose crop like this but I agree with the others that a tighter crop in this situation may help.
TFS

[Johnny Bravo]

Gorgeous bird, beautiful capture.

Personally, I like the composition. Not being such a fan of the 'Sterile' school of avian photography, I like seeing a bit of environment and in this case it doesn't distract, in my opinion, it adds.

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous bird and shot Rakesh.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Rakesh, terrific sharpness and BG. what a bird. I used to bird a lot there in the late eighties and early nineties but never saw this bird there....wondering if the population has increased in recent years.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Thanx Kaustubh ,
I am surprised that these birds were not there in Sinhagad in period you mention . I have had the good fortune of birding in Sinhagad Valley for 2 brief years , but from what I have witnessed , I can only say that it has witnessed large scale destruction and loss of habitat for these migratory birds . The UMFC , verditer Flycatcher , Red Throated Flycather , Paradise Flycatchers , Tickells Blue flycatcher all are found in this small paradise .
By my reckoning , I am sure the numbers have only dwindled over the years .