Little Shag

[Ian McHenry]

Yesterday morning was fine and sunny so light was right for bird pictures up the road at the lake.
New Zealand has numerous cormorants called shags and this is the smallest.
Birds in this tree above the lake are quite amenable to people watchers as next to a walking track.
Tried to get more of the tail in picture but would have gone into the lake !!!
Hoped for bird to fly but it waited till I had moved away when took off and circled over !!!
Details: Pentax K10D and Tamron 70-300 @ 300mm.
400 ISO 1/2000 @ F5.6.No EV adjustment.
About 40% crop. Time 10.50AM.
Ian McHenry

[John Chardine]

Black birds against a bright sky are tough. Some fill flash may have helped. Also you could have made the image bigger (limit is a little over 140k) to show more detail. Image shows nicely the big gape that many seabirds have. Their capacity to take big items is pretty amazing.

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks John for quick response.
Your suggestion about fill flash appreciated.Will give it a try.
I tried different file sizes on this pix but this one came out best !!!
Cheers: Ian Mc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianrmc/
And:
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[Robert O'Toole]

Ian you did a great exposure job with the extreme contrast situation. Not much could have been done short of an HDR due to the strong light. Black birds look best in subdued light. Wish the bird turned his head a few degrees to the camera when you snapped the image also.

Thanks for sharing.

Robert

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Robert.
I was quite chuffed to get the mouth open shot and in retrospect should have waited longer for another "more towards me" look.
Thanks for keeping things in perspective.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Robert O'Toole]

Thanks Robert.
I was quite chuffed to get the mouth open shot and in retrospect should have waited longer for another "more towards me" look.
Thanks for keeping things in perspective.
Cheers: Ian Mc

My post might have sounded too negative Ian, I like the shot no doubt, but I shoot commorants quite a but and I love the down the gullet look when they look towards you with a good gape!!
Whats the species?
We get the Double-crested Commorant all over the US and NA and for a few weeks out of the year it gets a bright blue mouth lining and a bright yellow throat.

Robert

[Alfred Forns]

Ian at that shutter speed there is not much the flash can do You could try to shoot at the sync speed but might introduce motion ...... best bet is not having a sunny day Pray for clouds !!!!

[Ian McHenry]

Hi Robert this bird is a Little Shag AKA Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos) 56cms high.
3 different phases. This one is the White Throated Phase but the Pied Phase and Intermediate Phases are also seen.
You might like to check out this website:http://www.answers.com/topic/cormorant
Click on the left hand species name for pictures etc.
I have a photograph of a Great Cormorant swallowing an eel !!!