Jurry
6103
Sunbird building a nest
Not too long ago, I posted a photo of a black sunbird, which already is quite rare around here and difficult to get on camera.
The male bird is black. The female is more like a "standard" sunbird with yellow belly and grey wings.
The female also gets to do the hard work: building a nest. Now, these birds don't build an ordinary nest. They built a "hanging" nest. She gathers all kinds of materials and then she builts a nest that seems to be hanging from a tree.
What makes this even rarer is the fact that this particular lady has selected the lightning we have on the ceiling of our patio, as the place she wants to build her nest.
It's unique to see her flying in and out and slowly building the nest.
The photos are not yet 100% sharp as it was difficult to focus with such a blanc background. The low contrast in the background also reduces the brightness colors. I have tried to fix that a bit in post editing but with only limited results. Any suggestions for improvement are more than welcome.
I shot these from a tripod, shutter 1/1000 (because I wanted to have the body sharp but still be able to see the motion in the wings which worked pretty well), aperture at 5.6 (not wide open trying to get bigger DoF). As a result, ISO went up to 1,000 which is high.
Still despite the lower quality of the photos, I wanted to share them with you. And hopefully, with some suggestions on how to improve, this could be the beginning of a nice summer series.
Sunbird building a nest
Not too long ago, I posted a photo of a black sunbird, which already is quite rare around here and difficult to get on camera. The male bird is black. The female is more like a "standard" sunbird with yellow belly and grey wings. The female also gets to d...
Wow, the first one is great
in particular, thanks for sharing. Came very close, some 8 yards, to a kestrel perched on a skeletonized tree the other day - when I hadn't brought my camera. Among my all too few ambitions in life: to produce one decent photograph of a bird of prey. Chee...
Does your lens have a UV filter?
I recently removed mine and my moon pictures are considerably sharper. Might be worth a try?
The story continues...
You have many weeks of 'family' ahead of you... building the nest and brining up the chicks. I find it interesting that in none of the photos is the black sunbird carrying any building materials. The construction of the nest is a story in itself. With the...
Thanks Casey
Indeed the black male is missing. That’s because for this species the male doesn’t get involved in building the nest (that lazy guy) Only when the nest is finished and she’s breeding the eggs, his job will be to defend the mother and the nest. Yep, using ...
