It's Hot !

[PhilCook]

Just having 2 days of 38 deg Celcius temps here and feeling slightly cooked ...as it seems a number of birds are as well.
Went for a brief outing before the hottest part of the day to an old disused farm dam not far from home and a number of birds came in to drink and bathe in the muddy water left in the dam.

Pretty hard to get decent shots in this spot as there is very little cover and the sun beats own fiercely once it clears the thorn bushes circling the dam....but managed to photograph several species in about 2 hours of enduring heat, flies and thornbushes.....I'm getting too old for this

This is a rather uncommon species of native Pigeon here....the " Brush Bronzewing ". They are very timid and hug the thornbushes most of the time, every time I pushed the shutter button on the 7D they took off in alarm.


Canon 7D + 500 f4 + 1.4 x TC....700mm, f8, 1/200, ISO 200, tripod mounted shot, hiding in thorn bushes with a piece of camo cloth draped over the camera and tripod.

Settings chosen to try and keep noise from my 7D at a minimum and aperture small to assist in strong sunlight..it was problematic Most of the images I took at ISO 400 or 500 were showing obvious grain grrrrr !

[John Cooper]

That is one very handsome pigeon Phil. I've only ever come across the Common Bronzewing around my area. You did well under such trying conditions to get this image of the pigeon drinking. These water holes become magnets to native birds in such hot weather.

[Nick Palmieri]

Considering the light, exposure looks good on the bird. I think the BG is a tad bright. I think the pose and crop work.

[Karl Egressy]

Great looking colourful Pigeon. Nice composition of a behavior shot. Well done, Phil. Sorry to hear about the heat. I hope at least the humidity is not high.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a spectacular dove! The setting is a bit messy and I'm sure a lower angle is difficult at this spot, but I love the drinking behaviour. Doves drink water using their bills like a straw and this is evident here. You must have a lower tolerance of noise as I do as my default setting for my 7D is ISO 800 and only apply NR to darker BGs...

The is hot man...stay cool and hydrated!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the colours on the wing, DOF and composition. A new species for me. Nice behaviour image Phil.

[PhilCook]

What a spectacular dove! The setting is a bit messy and I'm sure a lower angle is difficult at this spot, but I love the drinking behaviour. Doves drink water using their bills like a straw and this is evident here. You must have a lower tolerance of noise as I do as my default setting for my 7D is ISO 800 and only apply NR to darker BGs...

The is hot man...stay cool and hydrated!

Taa Daniel....I just cant work out how to overcome the noise problem with my 7D, I always try to expose well and not under expose, and sometimes I have used ISO 2000 + with no visible noise, but most of the time anything over ISO 500 is not very acceptable

[Richard Unsworth]

A really unusual Dove for sure and well done from that position, this group is not well represented and yet many are really beautiful birds.
Interesting comments re noise. I have trying to use ISO 400 atm on my 7D but wont hesitate to use 800
tfs, new one for me

[David Salem]

Great shot of a great looking Dove. You captured the iridescence on the feathers perfectly. Sharp and well exposed too. Nice. I like my 7D and to be honest I love the setup and features on it better than my MKIV but when it comes to grain in a BG the MKIV makes a big difference. Some BGs are great for the 7D, and others are noisy at even ISO400. TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

Phil:
Never seen this Brush Bronzewing dove before.You have captured this superbly.I don't mind the Bg with this image.
Love the colors and beautiful details.

Regards,
Satish.