Bet You've Never Seen THIS on This Forum!

[Craig Brelsford]

I've spent the past 27 months putting together a photographic field guide to the birds of China. I'm trying to take most of the photos myself; to that end, I've traveled to 31 of China's 34 provincial-level entities. In between photographic trips, I write the text for the field guide at my apartment in Shanghai. This is a slender-billed scimitar babbler (Pomatorhinus superciliaris), photographed from a hide in the Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan. The slender-billed is just the sort of hard-to-find bird that I spend so much time and energy looking for. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/5.6, 1/400, ISO 2500.

[Randy Stout]

Craig:

Good to see you posting, I have missed your unique contributions.

This fellows bill made me laugh, looks like it melted a bit and drooped.

The bird is sharp, well exposed, nice pose. The very bright leaves just behind the head/bill are somewhat distracting, and really pull the eye away from the subject. I would be tempted to try and tone them down further, or even remove them (if you are comfortable with such changes).

Cheers

Randy

[christopher galeski]

This bird is quite different,that bill is something else,maybe a bit of Viagra may helpthanks for showing.

[Richard Flack]

Awesome, awesome bird. Nice image. If anything the BG is a bit busy but that is where he was. Thanks for sharing!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, sharpness, exposure and natural setting. I would crop from the bottom to just above the dark shadow bottom center. A new species for me. Well done.

[Craig Brelsford]

Craig:

. . . The very bright leaves just behind the head/bill are somewhat distracting, and really pull the eye away from the subject. I would be tempted to try and tone them down further, or even remove them (if you are comfortable with such changes). . . .

Hi Randy,

Thanks for looking at the photo, and thanks for your comment.

Why did I display the bird "where he was," as Richard Flack put it?

It had to do with the species.

The slender-billed scimitar babbler is an uncommon Himalayan-Southeast Asian species. It's hard to find, let alone photograph. Already, an image like mine, without twigs or foliage blocking any part of the bird, is rare (and suggests setup); a shot with an even cleaner BG than the BG presented here would begin to look even more unlikely and artificial (i.e., it would scream "Setup!").

I hope that you can understand what I'm saying.

[Craig Brelsford]

I like the pose, sharpness, exposure and natural setting. I would crop from the bottom to just above the dark shadow bottom center. A new species for me. Well done.

Thanks, Jim. I lean your way about the "natural setting." You may find useful what I just wrote to Randy Stout. A cleaner BG (no distracting leaves) would have pleased the eye; but it may not have pleased the mind as much as the flawed, but more natural and more likely, setting presented here.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Fantastic looking bird Craig! Looks like our Aussie honeyeaters like the New Holland or White-cheeked. Well, the long curved bill is identical, which ours use to probe deep into flowers to get the nectar.

BTW, I love these natural images. For me, that is a nature photograph, everything else looks fake.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Graig this is really striking bird and I am sure I have never seen it before here or on any other place, so many thanks for that! and also wish you luck with the guide project!

[Craig Brelsford]

Fantastic looking bird Craig! Looks like our Aussie honeyeaters like the New Holland or White-cheeked. Well, the long curved bill is identical, which ours use to probe deep into flowers to get the nectar.

BTW, I love these natural images. For me, that is a nature photograph, everything else looks fake.

Hi Ákos, thanks for your appreciation. Long, curved bills in scimitar babblers here in Asia and honeyeaters in Australia must be a result of convergent evolution.