We had a slight delay early one morning on a small, low to the water wooden bridge, not far from Little Vumbura Camp, Botswana in Feb. this year. I spotted several small birds in amongst the reeds dining while walking on lily pads. On the other side of the bridge in a larger open body of water were several hippos serenading us with grunts. Writing about this experience makes it feel as it happened just yesterday. Can't get back there soon enough. At the time we, Bill Dix, his wife Joanne and I were not quite sure what types of birds we were looking at. Going back over my files from the trip I found this image, captured from the bridge of a Lesser Jacana. Some say they are not a common sighting, so I was thrilled to find it. C&C welcome.
D500, Sigma 150-600mm @ 600mm, 1/800s, f 6.3, HH, ISO 800.
Hey Geoffry Very cool species in typical habitat. Bird angled away and also facing away is not helping you here and there looks to be some clone marks to the right and above the bird. On a file like this if you have distracting elements I would advise not trying to clean it up. It just never looks right. I have some point blank shots of American Bittern from this year that I never kept because I just did not like the distracting habitat and it is close to impossible to work on it and have it look right.
A nice portrayal of the bird in its environment and I like its ripple-reflection in the water. It looks like your focus point was just in front of the bird which is a pity. A good reason for a retry when you get back to one of the most amazing spots on the planet!
How could I forget that spot. I remember being thrilled to get a fleeting glimpse of this little guy, and had the same issues as you did here. We also got fleeting glimpses of several flavors of Cisticolas, also too far and too quick for a decent shot. Still a memorable day.
You did as well as possible at finding an open slot to the bird but after that there are many problems as mentioned above.
with love, artie
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Thanks everyone. It certainly was a challenge finding a clear opening amongst the reeds, and it's no excuse, but the bird did get a tad soft after posting. I could add there might be a bit of motion blur given the speed he was jumping around.
Lesser Jacana
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