Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata) Barkly Homestead NT
Canon EOS 40D Lens 100-400mm L IS USM at 400mm ISO 400 F8.0 1/1600sec available light 17 August 2009
Diamond Doves are such delicate birds in colour, feather texture and the soft manner they approach water to drink. This species vies with the Peaceful Dove as Australia's smallest dove. This was an early morning drink and I am are a sucker for the colouration around the eye. There were some sub-adults coming in as well and later I will post an image to demonstrate the feather differences. Barkly Homestead is a stopover facilty for supplies and accomodation on the Barkly Highway the main east-west arterial into the Northern Territory and provides access from Mt Isa Queensland to Darwin and Kakadu National Park some 1300 klms to the west then north. Birds in Backyards has an excellent Fact Page on the Diamond Dove at : http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Geopelia-cuneata
Lovely looking bird and also appears to be quite thirsty.
I like the nice soft colours of the bird and reflections in water.
I might be tempted to crop just below the far shoeline on top and a bit from bottom as well.
I can't quite tell but perhaps a bit more sharpening of bird?
Hey Rod, good looking dove and I like the drinking behaviour you captured. Good low angle, but there is just too much negative space at bottom - cropping away about half down there would strenghten the comp IMO. You could also trim at top to eliminate the dark band (as suggested by Dave). The resulting pano crop would work well. I agree a bit more sharpening would improve the image for web presentation.
Thanks for the additonal info (and link) above these beautiful birds!
Thanks Dave and Daniel for your suggestions will give them a go. Got carried away with foreground colouration. Always a bit shy of sharpening having gone over board a little when I first swapped to digital.
Again thanks
Best regards
Rod Warnock
Diamond Dove NT Australia
Reply With Quote
