Shining Honeycreeper

[Richard Unsworth]

:S3:

Hi

Here is the Honeycreeper from Costa Rica/Panama that has bright yellow legs, showing a fantastic contrast to the blue plumage.
Somewhat less common than the Red -Legged I was thrilled to see one for the first time in November in Matapalo, Osa Peninsula on Costa Rica's SW Pacific Coast.
I got very few opportunities to capture one with the camera but did see quite a few around isolated forest running parallel to the wild beaches there.
The blue shown Richard Garrigues and Robert Deans excellent guide to the Birds Of Costa Rica is a very deep shade; I think I am presenting a fairly close rendition of this.
So, I hope you like the shot; it was a life bird for me at the time.

7D Ev +.66 ISO 800 (dull, overcast, forest trail), 1/320 tripod
100-400 at max f 5.6
NR Topaz, levels, sat boost and deepen to blue, cut yellow in BG

[Don Lacy]

Beautiful colors on this Honeycreeper I like the OOF BG an active pose. If this were mine I would try to even out the tonalities between the head and the rest of the bird.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp with a neat bird and the BLUE is as I remember it from Panama. The stick through the neck, the awkward pose, and the uneven light are all negatives... BTW, I am pretty sure that the species is Shiny Honeycreeper. Love those bright yellow feet.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Arthur

Sorry, you have that wrong, species is Shining - Cyanerpes lucidus.
Pose is typical, as they are very acrobatic, and search frantically along these little vine stems for spiders and other small insects, so I feel the pose on vine is "relative" to behaviour. Indeed they often hang upside down on the tiniest vine ends.
Hear what you say about the stick/kneck, naturally would be better without but beyond me to remove because of the vines I think. At least you love the feet!
Thanks for your comments which are appreciated as ever:S3:

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the species correction. The bird in Panama is very similar. Many images that depict interesting behavior are simply not pleasing photographs and they do not always make good images. Yes, the bird is where the bird was....

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Nice one! these tiny birds are a little hard to photograph since they are very active and you have done well here. The one on Garrigues book, is that deep blue, well, you know that books are printed and is very hard to render the right colors some times, have a look at the green ibis, in the same book and let's talk later. In any case I prefer that book over many other.