Red-headed Barbet (Colombia)

Recently absent due to other projects, I'll pick up with my summer Colombian theme again. This is a juvenile
Red-headed Barbet photographed in the Western Andes above Cali. What you can't see out of the frame
right is the adult holding a piece of offered banana. The youngster didn't want to walk/fly those two feet,
so he instead protested from this shown position. The adult was having none of it and refused to cave to
the young bird's begging demands. I was ready to crush the two of them together if he had. Oh well......

This set-up was optimized for the morning, so I was fighting some funny backlighting later in the day. This
and the adult were the only barbets that came in all day, so I shot them despite the less-than-perfect light.
Happy with the result regardless......

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/640 at f/5.6, ISO 1000, Manual
Processed in LR CC without trickery

Hi Dorian, nice to have you back on board and with a real winner here! What wonderful IQ, behavior and clean BG... I really like the details throughout the juvie. There are a few trace whiskers that poke in three places and I would give them a "trim", as they immediately caught my eye... I would wish that the ferns were not dried out and brown... Wonderful work.

Haha! Good point on the whiskers, Ann! I just gave him a digital shave! Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by annmpacheco

Hi Dorian, nice to have you back on board and with a real winner here! What wonderful IQ, behavior and clean BG... I really like the details throughout the juvie. There are a few trace whiskers that poke in three places and I would give them a "trim", as they immediately caught my eye... I would wish that the ferns were not dried out and brown... Wonderful work.

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Hi Dorian. That's one angry look..."don't mess with me!". Really like the composition, colours and clarity. It's amazing the variety of birdlife in South America!

This is great Dorian. Love everything about this one. Pose, head angle, details, image quality, perch, background. This one has everything that a quality shot of a song bird needs plus some great action which takes it way over the top. This is by far my favorite shot I have seen from your trip so far. Looking forward to more.

This is great! I love the begging pose. Setting is alright too. I see what you mean about the light, but it's not bad - it gives off a "deep woods" type of feel. I do find the WB a touch yellow though.

Nicely balanced frame. Great background. Neat looking bird. The begging pose is nice. Details look quite good.

Hi Dorian, well timed to have captured this behavioural pose, and that's one large beak for a smallish bird. I really like the colours on this subject, a Barbet I have not seen before. Although the perch is a touch busy, the Barbet still steals the show. Killer upper smooth BG too.

Great looking bird, in a great begging pose. Very nice detail and background. I don't mind the lighting. A fine image of a bird I've never seen.