I am obsessed with hummingbirds and long have called sunbirds "the Southern Hemisphere's consolation prize for not having hummingbirds" (just as puffins are the Northern Hemisphere's consolation prize for not having penguins), but on a recent trip to South Africa, my native land, a couple years ago, I became obsessed with sunbirds. Maybe they are more than a consolation prize. Anyway, this male southern (or lesser) double-collared sunbird was at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden, a truly amazing place near Cape Town. The white in the BG actually is a group of white versions of the orange flower the bird is on, and I think it works well. Canon 7D II, Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS II at 400 mm, ISO 640, 1/800 at f/5.6, + 1/3 stop EC.
Hi David, lovely clean image for Kirstenbosch, and what a great pose from the Sunbird. Good detail on the plumage too. I see some posterization in the BG.
I holiday to Cape Town every December holidays, and when I visited Kirstenbosch at the end of last year, I saw nothing, nada, niks.
Thanks, Stu. I avoid Cape Town and the crowds during the December holidays. This photograph was made in early May. Have you been to the Strandfontein sewage works? Thousands of flamingoes and other good birds. Probably best not to go there alone.
Cool bird indeed, and a nifty perch! As for the background, it could be both, but ISO 400 should not show much noise (even with that body) unless you needed to raise the exposure a lot in post. But there is definitely something going on there, most likely processing.
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 06-02-2018 at 06:58 PM.
Southern double-collared sunbird
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