Swamp Boubou

[gail bisson]

These VERY shy birds created the sounds that I will always associate with the Okavengo delta. The male emits a flute like call and the female has a cackling sound- like pebbles being clapped against one another. You can have a listen here : http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Laniarius-bicolor
They would sing from dusk till dawn but rarely would we see one. On our last day, we hit the jackpot as we were drifting down the river. These 2 beauties perched for us for a good 2 minutes.
Canon 7D
f 4 500mm
ISO 640
Ss 1/1600
f 6.3
Small crop for composition.
Processed in LR3 and NR and recovered some whites on the left hand bird in CS5,
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from,
Gail

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Gail, terrific capture. loved the pose, image design and the exposure. Nice pop and BG separation. Your position w.r.t the birds was perfect.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome interaction, and nice comp with this very neat perch. Your aperture ensured both birds in DOF range. BG is a little busier than I prefer. Still a wonderful image, and considering the situation you had I'd rather have two sharp birds than a smoother BG. I'd perhaps only smooth out the two paler lines coming out of the left bird's back.

Neat songs...thanks for the link!

[Craig Kerr]

A super image Gail... love the interaction between these two

[Dumay de Boulle]

Very nice exp and the calling pose is a bonus. For me I think you could have gone f8 still had enough SS just to get the one on the right as sharp, love the perch. Do they also call in Duet like our Southern Boubou?

[dankearl]

Great perch and environment.
I like the DOF a lot as the birds look sharp enough to me, and they really stand out
Against the BG.
Well thought out and cropped to perfection.

[Wynand van Wyk]

A very lovely double captured here! I like the background and pose of the left one. Great sound they make too, thanks.

[arash_hazeghi]

great calling pose and nice to get both with the right HA. bummer about the right one being a bit soft, maybe you can sharpen it a bit more