“It eez here,” said my guide Alex in a whisper. I looked at the perch that he said the bird would land on, but did not see any bird. I did see what looked to be two large bumblebees fighting just below the perch. I swung my lens to view the bees and was stunned. The two “bees” were actually the rackets on the bird’s two very long modified feathers. As the bird moved them about as if by magic they looked just like two fighting bumblebees. The male hummingbird’s body was impossibly tiny. When the bird flashed the feathers of its purple crown and aqua gorget it revealed its improbable beauty.
Marvelous Spatuletail, a Peruvian endemic, is a very rare bird indeed. It can be found only in a single valley in Pomacochas, Peru. Other than the fact that this species is ICUN endangered, there is not much definitive information on this species on the web. It does however, seem that there are less than 1,000 individuals. Conservation efforts include protecting habitat and planting vegetation that supply the tiny hummers with their preferred nectar.
To read the rest of the story and learn about my creating 838 images in just 17 minutes and 26 seconds, see the blog post here.
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ps: sorry to have been absent so long. I was in South America for 10 1/2 weeks. My trip began on 12 OCT just six days after I had my gall bladder out :)
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
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Welcome Home, Artie! What an amazing, and probably taxing, trip. I saw this one in the Blog, and it was the best of the group IMO. Congratulations on capturing such a spectacular hummer. The bird is tack sharp. Some motion blur in the rackets is a good thing (again IMHO), and probably unavoidable in any case given the light. But in a perfect world I would have liked to see them a little sharper.
Beautiful bird and shot Artie. The only nit I have is what appears to be a double catchlight? I would get rid of the one at the 8 O'clock position of the eye.
Must have been one heck of a trip.
wow, that is an insanely beautiful bird, almost looks like from fantasy place or something, great capture, sharp and beautiful colors, i am sure it was even better in real life, I want to go! thanks for sharing! ~
Thanks Joe. I missed that and will revisit the master file.
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BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
I like the pose, setting, head and neck feathers and blowing rackets. Along the edge of the rackets I see a line that I would blend a little more, I don't know if they are on your RAW file. Beautiful image and bird!
I like the pose, setting, head and neck feathers and blowing rackets. Along the edge of the rackets I see a line that I would blend a little more, I don't know if they are on your RAW file. Beautiful image and bird!
Thanks and good catch. It is on the RAW file but was likely accentuated by the application of my NIK Color Efex Pro 25/25 recipe ... I will eliminate it when I prepare the image for next year's Nature's Best contest.
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BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,