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Thread: Brant's Whistling Rat

  1. #1
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default Brant's Whistling Rat

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    I promise not to punish you all with my rodents on a daily basis, tomorrow I shall post something different.

    …but I had to show you this one…

    Most people do not even know they exist. They almost never come out of the shade, given the fact that so many species prey on them: Bat Eared and Cape Foxes, predatory birds like Pale Chanting Goshawks, snakes, African Wild Cats, even Blackbacked Jackals and Honey Badgers. Their homes consist of a network of channels underground and plenty of holes to pop up from, they live in colonies but become solitary after breeding. Their diet - mainly small branches and green foliage - contains sufficient moisture so they do not have to drink water. Their babies (litters of one to three pups) attach themselves to the mother's nipples for about a week after they are born.

    We have heard them call (sharp whistles) and often stopped to look for them but they are skittish and disappear down their burrows for as long as they hear any sounds that might represent danger. It took a long wait and lots of patience to produce a few images like this, perhaps the IQ is not great since the crop is quite big (we had to keep distance), this was taken in the shade, only a tiny ray of sunshine to light up his little body and face. They are very special little creatures, part of the amazing biodiversity of this magic place called the Kalahari.

    Nikon D3S
    Nikon 500 F4
    F6.3
    ISO 500
    1/1600s

    Wishing you a great week ahead,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    I love hearing about some of these special, small creatures and I think you have done justice to this one with your photograph. I like the balance of the two bits of vegetation and the speckled ground from the shadows. Nice bit of light on the rat. Very nice work.

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Nice to see something different. This works for me with nice exposure on the rat and the balancing bush above. Good to hear the story behind it too.
    Ed

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - always nice to see and learn about another species. So often we overlook the smaller critters. I agree with your self-assessment that the IQ is not up to your usual stuff due to the large crop but still very nice to see.

    TFS,
    Rachel

  5. #5
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Hilary, Edward and Rachel-I appreciate you taking the time to view. Also, thank you for your kind words.
    Rachel, I knew from the start that it would be difficult to process this and and make it look good, but thought it was worthwhile giving it a try-I want to have an image of every single species in the Kalahari. I will try again in February, I know where to find these little guys

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela,

    love those little animals, they always bring a smile in the room
    I might would turn down the Lights in this image, just a tad. Otherwise it looks fine to me, but not what we are used to see from you

    Have a great eve

    Ciao
    Anette

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hey Rodent Mama,
    very informative, thanks for the intro.

    Difficult image to make look interesting.Think i would go a bit darker all over , and add more tonal depth to the subject.Think it looks nice in the gap between the FG and BG shadows, but i would loose the foliage in the ULC.

    TFS Andreas

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Gabriela our first sighting in the Kgalagadi back in 2009 was this little fellow
    I think you framed this well and executed it nicely. I would perhaps tone down the brightest brights just a tad and add some tonal contrast or LCE to the rat?
    Morkel Erasmus

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