Greater Double-collared Sunbird

[John Deakin]

The perfection of nature. The flower evolved for the sunbird to capture pollen from the plant on his head ready to deposit it when he visits the next flower.

D3
Nikkor 500 VR
SB 800 flash with dffuser mounted on camera.

taken at approx 4 meters from a portable hide on the roadside outside our home on the Garden Route, South Africa.

Your comments are much appreciated. John

[Doug Brown]

Spectacular bird and flower John! That breast is just incredible. Sharpness is good too. I'd like to see a little more room for the bird, and a slight head turn would be nice. Please try to include tech specs when posting photos. Thanks for sharing!

[John Deakin]

Thanks Doug, cropped to take out distracting foliage to the left of the subject and composition. Here are the specs, sorry not to include.

Dynamic 21 point
VR on
F7.1
1/80 - aperture priority
ISO 1600
flash @ - 0.3 ev
Active D lighting on low
WB - auto
Matrix
Tripod used.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Brilliant colours. Nice image. Lot of details in the image. Thanks for sharing

[Linda Robbins]

The colors are just beautiful in this image. While a better head angle might be nice, I love the bill completely in the blossom and with the stamen from the other flower resting on the bird's crown, you can certainly see how valuable these birds are in pollination. Sharp where it needs to be sharp - an accomplishment at 1/80 in such a low light situation with these speedy small birds. Well done.

_____________________

Linda Robbins

[Tony Whitehead]

Well done John. Lovely BG, colours and lighting to show the iridescence.

[Simon Bennett]

Amazing colours and iridescense and critically sharp around the eye.

[Glenda Simmons]

Now that's a burst of color! Beautiful! I love the bill inside the flower blossom. How big a bird is this?

[John Deakin]

Thanks you so much for your comments, really appreciated.

Glenda, this sunbird is listed as being 14cms, a real small chappie :)

John