The purple heron is a fairly large bird (86 cm), very shy, and keeping close to dense vegetation, around ponds and rivers. It is found almost throughout India, except for the desert environs of the northwest. One of my favourite birds, but not easy to photograph because of its shy nature.
Species: Purple heron (Ardea purpurea)
Location: Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary, Karnataka, India
Date: Jan, 2010
Equip: Canon 1D Mlll, Canon 500 f4 with 1.4 TC
Specs: ISO 400, f 6.3, 1/2000s, monopod on a boat
Thank you for taking the time out to look, and for your comments/critiques.
Very nice portrait of this attractive species that, as you say, often stays in the reeds. Great to get both the bill and the head plumes in the plane of focus; slight shame to cut the ends off the lower neck plumes. I like the eye close to the centre vertical of the image. The characteristic kinked neck and its pattern make great lead lines. Lovely.
Purple heron portrait
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