Red-Collared Widowbird

[Stu Bowie]

I drove through the nature reserve close to my house early saturday morning with the intention of capturing one of these guys in flight. It is not easy trying to track these guys from your car. The BG is as shot. Whilst it is not the best image, I will keep going back for a better one.

Canon 1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 375mm
1/1250
F/7.1
ISO 500

Manual exposure

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture Stuart! Exposure is spot on! I love the curvature of the body kind of aligns with the background. If you're going back for some better shots, I hope you can post one that's a tighter crop to appreciate the gorgeous body of this bird.

[dankearl]

This would be a lifer for me.A magnificent bird, I hope to see one someday.Exposure and BG look great.How do they haul that around?

[John Cooper]

Well captured stuart. This species always intrigues me as they seem to be all tail. I lke the flight pose here, good exposure for the blacks and that two-tone BG. The pano crop does strengthen the composition. Nice one.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

This is an awesome shot Stuart. I have seen these birds in flight in Africa and I know how difficult it is to track them! They have this unusual undulating flight path! Very well done and super BG!

[PhilCook]

This shot has got so very much going for it, just beautiful Stuart

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent Stu! love the pose details and the BG!

[Shawn Zierman]

Beautiful. Lovely sheen to the plumage due to the great light angle.
Sweet flight pose. Subject well isolated against the smooth background.
What didn't you achieve here that you want to improve on?

[Stu Bowie]

What didn't you achieve here that you want to improve on?

Thanks Shawn. To be honest, slightly closer to me, and sharper.

Thanks to everyone else for your feedback too.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great shot Stu, looks pretty good to me! I love the pose against the muted background.

[gail bisson]

Hi Stuart,
This is really nice.
The 2 toned BG is beautiful and you got a great head turn.
As photographers we are never satisfied. we always want better and closer!!
But I would be thrilled with this one!
Gail

[christopher galeski]

well done Stuart,like the pano crop,nice BG,and what a beautiful bird.thanks.

[Nick Palmieri]

Boy that is a real cool bird. Great exposure on a black bird and I think the pano crop really works. I always love the two toned BGs

[Karl Egressy]

Cool looking bird captured beutifully, Stuart. The canvas chosen fits the bird beutifully. Love the two tone smooth background.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Talk about a bird that needs a pano crop! Nice job all the way around, with unusual BG, excellent display of the tail,good detail in the blacks.

Well done!

Cheers

Randy

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Sweet image Stu. Everything is great, but I especially love the head turn you got here.
Of course, the pose is excellent and so is the graduated bg.
Pano crop works perfectly here.
Is there a story behind the name of this bird? Why is it called the Widowbird?

[Tim King]

Brilliant photo. That tail is so cool.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely capture and love the pano presentation.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I love when I set out to capture a certain thing and I do. I think we make it happen with our positive attitude dont you? I think you did great and to get even closer and better will be even sweeter.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pano crop, curve in the tail and BG. Well done Stuart!

[Petros Petrou]

This is a very cool capture. Great details and eye contact. That tail is impressive!

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words and feedback.

Sid. I have tried to find a reason behind the naming of this species, but to no avail.

[David Salem]

Great capture Stuart. Love the pose and BG. What an awesome tail. Nice comp choice too. Very cool.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Sid. I have tried to find a reason behind the naming of this species, but to no avail.

Hey Stu, I didn't find much from a quick search. Worse, I found two completely different explanations :)

1) A corruption of Whydaw bird. So called from the country of Whydaw, in Western Africa. The blunder is perpetuated in the scientific name given to the genus, which is the Latin Vidua, a widow.

2) Females and males not in the breeding period, and also young birds, are not brightly colored and resemble sparrows; in the mating period the males develop long tail feathers and brilliant black color predominates (hence the name widow bird).

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Sid, thanks a stack for your feedback. Point 2 definately suits the species. I mistakenly named this the 'long-tailed widowbird' but have corrected my title to red-collared widowbird. The long-tailed widowbird has an even longer tail, and although I have posted one before, hopefully I can capture and post a better one in the near future. Cheers.

[Grace Scalzo]

Stuart, THis is lovely. Bird looks nice and sharp and the bg is sweet. Nice sense of movement to the image.