Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris) Matcham Valley NSW

[Rod Warnock]

Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris) Matcham Valley NSW
Canon EOS 40D Lens 100-400mm L IS USM at 400mm ISO 800 F 5.6 1/400 Fill Flash 1 September 2010
Green Catbirds often flighty and timid but then also likely to strike a pose so it is a matter of being ready and quick plus a lot of images that you will not be seeing here soon!!! While largely a fruit eater the catbird will abandon being a frugivore and feed the young of other birds to catbird young which was something I did not realise. The Green Catbird while grouped with bowerbirds do not build bowers and are monogamous with both sexes attending the nest.

Thanks for viewing
Best regards
Rod Warnock

[Bill Holsten]

Beautiful bird and striking image. Lovely study in green and very sharp! Wonderful detail on the breast. A bit more DOF to sharpen the tail would have been great, but from your tech specs that apparently was not in the cards. I would crop a bit more loosely adding a bit of space on the left for the bird to look into. I would also darken the white bopeh in the BKGR LRC to keep the viewer's eye on the bird.

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful bird and pose. Love the breast feather detail. Wish that the bird's front end were leaning a bit more towards us. Excellent use of fill flash.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Love this one. Just wish for a bit more room as I find it a little tight. Wonderful color and detail and a great piece of info in the story as well. TFS!!!!!!

[Colin Driscoll]

Nice to get that bird Rod, excellent detail and colour. Agree with a wider crop if possible. Just to add to your notes, they are Catbirds because they 'meouw' like a cat.

[Stu Bowie]

A species I havent seen before. Good forward leaning pose, and I like the colour and detail. Great eye too.

[Nico Steenberg]

Great close up details and flash work. Like the pose and colours. Well captured

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice shot of this shy bird Rod! Maybe a bit big in the frame for me but still very effective.

[Rod Warnock]

Thank you all for your comments. I tend to crop a bit tight a hangover from the slide days and PSA Internationals where one felt the subject had to grab attention..perhaps an error ?? but it did seem to work then. Colin: I should have mentioned the Catbird call and the reason for it's name, thanks!
Best regards
Rod Warnock

[Arthur Morris]

As for the size of the bird in the frame, this is right on the edge for me but still very acceptable.