Took this juvenile female Mistletoe bird earlier today. 7D Mkii, 100-400 lens at 370mm, AV mode, 1/400th sec, iso640, f5.6. It's a shame I wasn't able to get the feet in the shot. Thanks for looking.
Last edited by Paul Burdett; 05-26-2018 at 10:37 PM.
This is a nice find, Paul. I don't think I've seen a shot of a juvenile Mistletoe bird. Everyone goes for the adult males because of their stunning colour. Looks like the bird might have been quite close as you weren't at full zoom. However, you don't mention the crop. Always good to post that detail. For me, the bird is a bit tight in the frame but don't know if you have much more room left in the frame or how messy it looks? Also, the depth of field is quite narrow at f5.6 and the bird isn't quite sharp in some areas, critically the eye and head. The very rear end of the wing tips look sharpest. These tight shots work a lot better when the sharpness is good. Maybe you have other frames that are better. If not, try again another day.
Hi Glenn. Thanks for the feedback...much appreciated. I only had time for three shots before it flew away...not enough time to close down the aperture as I was chasing Silvereyes at the time. I should have been at 400mm (not sure why I wasn't...zoom was locked at 400 or so I thought). Yes...I tried a number of crops, but settled on this one as it was quite a busy to the left of the bird. I aimed my focus point on the eye...but I'll double check the raw file to confirm. Yes...I have plenty of male birds, but this is only the second female I've photographed to date. Cheers
If you have cropped this excessively, try a looser crop and the bird will "appear" sharper.
I love Mistletoebirds (note, it is a one word name), they are rather photogenic. If you happen to find a nesting pair low to the ground, which is possible, you could carefully photograph them from a hide.
We have successfully done this in the past.
Mistletoe bird
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