Greater Painted Snipe (Female)

[Ken Watkins]

I must confess that I had never heard of this Bird let alone seen one, this is a rarity as the female is more colourful than the male.

Taken in Southern Moremi on a rather overcast day.

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 IS hand-held from vehicle

F8, 1/2000. ISO 800

[Colin Driscoll]

Nice shot, they are generally flighty so I guess the vehicle was a good hide. The lighting has brought out the subtleties in color very well.

[Daniel Cadieux]

From the thumbnail I was not expecting to like the surrounding grasses, but I love it! It frames the image well. Nice glance-back pose, but it does look nervous about your presence:). I would darken the pupil as there is some blue/grey in there, and I would clone out the short light piece of dry grass above the bird's back.

[christopher galeski]

what a good looking bird Ken,sharp,good eye contact,as Daniel says,I would clone out the light piece of grass above the birds back.nice shot thanks.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

What a beautiful bird. Great composition and the pose is awesome with excellent detail and eye contact. Like this a lot Ken !!!!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I don't think I have seen an image of this species before, thanks for sharing. It is a very good-looking specimen, I like the eye contact, soft light, and look-back pose and would run NR on the BG.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

This is a species I used to enjoy watching a lot in India( 15-16 yrs back). There is a lot of male-female role reversal in them. Loved this shot. enough subject separation IMO. I liked the details in the plumage a lot. Thx for sharing.