I like the Falklands name of "Military Starling" better than the one thought up by some taxonomist with no imagination- in the books this species is called the Long-tailed Meadowlark! (OK it isn't a starling, rather it's a New World blackbird in the Icteridae family).
I've been away for the last 7 weeks in the southern hemisphere have had little time to post images to BPN. I again was lucky enough to get to the fabulous Falkland Islands, and this time to rat-free Carcass Island in the West Falklands. And you could tell there were no rats as the island was teaming with birds of all sorts. What a place!
This male has a bill-full of grubs to feed its chicks. The habitat is messy and I did do a little cleaning but nothing major. I reduced some noise in the BG, cropped a little and selectively sharpened the subject with Topaz Infocus. The reds seemed to have held in the conversion to jpeg. Comments of course very welcome!
Date: 8 November, 2011, Time: 1054h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM, @ 188 mm
Program: Aperture Priority
ISO 800, 1/1000s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: +0.3
Flash: no flash
Great shot, John, of a most interesting bird. The pose, composition, sharpness and the way you've handled the difficult reds are all excellent. And what a treat those grubs will provide!
This is a great image of a bird I have never heard of! The IQ of the bird is excellent. I love the mouthful of different colored grubs. Nice pose and good light. It sounds like you had an incredible long adventure. I hope to see lots more of your shots,
gail
Thanks to all. I think you are right Sid and I kick myself for cropping some off the bottom. I went too far I guess. At least I have some habitat to ad back.
Military Starling
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