Secretary Bird

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Was lucky to get this handsome bird at the Mara , so close . The light was pretty challenging as it was around 11.00 in the morning . Still wondering why it is called the Secretary bird though .

Camera : Canon 1D Mk III
Lens : Canon 600mm f4 IS
Aperture : f 8
Shutters : 1/1200
ISO : 200

Cheers,
Rakesh

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Nice shot under trying situation.
Liked it.

[Dumay de Boulle]

You did well in the light...Always a special sighting....The name comes from the Anglicized version of the Arabic name saqr-et-tair meaning "Hunter Bird'

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Rakesh, I think you've handled the harsh light quite well. shame about the oof grass blade...but I guess you got the best bird angle and HA at this spot only. A little more room on top will work, I think.

Dumay...thx for that. from hunter to secretary...radical career move, I'd say :-)

[Dan Busby]

I love this shot. The only thing I might try is to do is clone out the largest OOF grass blade across the birds shoulder, and maybe the one just in front of the birds beak. Would be nice to see some feet but I can't imagine that is likely to happen in this setting!

[Arthur Morris]

You did well in the light...Always a special sighting....The name comes from the Anglicized version of the Arabic name saqr-et-tair meaning "Hunter Bird'

Thanks for the derivation. There is another one: The most popular is that it is named because of the crest of long feathers at the back of its head that resemble quill pens that 19th century clerks stuck in their wigs.

As for the image, with the harsh light not very well handled (the top of the head looks detail-less) and the several oof grasses between you and the subject (esp. the one large one) this might have been a candidate for the trash bin ....

[RakeshDhareshwar]

As for the image, with the harsh light not very well handled (the top of the head looks detail-less) and the several oof grasses between you and the subject (esp. the one large one) this might have been a candidate for the trash bin ....

:) Sadly , Could not find the bird out in the open ..they did prefer the grass . Agree with you on the detailess head , but I found it worth processing because , I did not get many photo-op with the species there . While browsing through my images , I did find one where I had underexposed , and that one does have some good detail overall , but again all in the the grass . Will post that next .

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Rakesh. I figured that you did not have much on this species.