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Elvis Is Alive And Well


Elvis Is Alive And Well
Photo Information
Copyright: Loot Eksteen (loot) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5451 W: 594 N: 3650] (10031)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-03-01
Categories: Birds
Camera: Cannon EOS 350D, Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 HZ DG Macro, Digital ISO 100, UV 62mm Kenko
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/200 seconds
Details: (Fill) Flash: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Birds of Africa, Birds / Aves, 50-59 points Chapter 7, Animal Portraits II, A study in Ornithology, !!! STOLEN PHOTOS !!! I, Intimate Portraits, Funny Faces [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-03-03 12:13
Viewed: 2238
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 56
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Kenya Crested Guineafowl - Guttera pucherani pucherani

No two trips to Durban's Umgeni Bird Park are ever the same. What you've seen or photographed previously you might not even encounter on the next visit. Such was the case with this trip. I did not even see the Fischer's Turaco, that was so well received on TN, from one of my previous trips.

Every visit has its own surprises and pleasures. While visiting the 'marsh aviary' this guy boldly approached me and demanded a shooting. He was not going to leave until I've shot sufficient material to pave his road to fame. Being a 'celebrity star' on TN is something not even you or I can ever hope to accomplish.

Description
They have small white spots surrounded by a black spot on a dark chestnut background. The head is topped with a crest of black feathers. The bare skin of the chin, throat, and down the front of the neck, around the eyes and behind the crest is red. The rest of the bare skin and the neck are cobalt blue. The sexes look alike. The flight feathers have white edging and spots and the outer secondary feathers have broad white edges. Their individual feathers are half black with white spots and half striped.

Behaviour
These are silent, shy birds in general. Their alarm call is a piercing, rattling cry, but they also make a soft chuckling sound while feeding. When disturbed, they will fly up into trees crying out loudly. Common in flocks of twenty or more, they separate into pairs during the breeding season, but return to the groups once the young can fend for themselves. They usually obtain their food by scratching among leaves on the ground.

Distribution
Found in southern Somalia, Kenya east of the Rift Valley from Mt. Kenya southwards, and north-eastern Tanzania; also on the islands of Zanzibar and Tumbatu.

Habitat
Found in scrub or dense thickets, but occasionally found in grass away from dense thickets. In mountain-, river-, dune-, and coastal forests.

Food
They eat the typical guineafowl diet of insects, seeds, roots, and shoots.

Size
These are chicken-sized birds.

Voice
Males give a 'tjik-tjik-tjil-tjrrr' call. A soft 'keet-keet-keet' - contact call are made by groups whilst foraging on the forest floor.

Breeding
In Kenya they breed from April to June and in December. On Zanzibar they breed from April on. Three or four eggs have been recorded, but there are probably as many as ten. The eggs are cream, speckled with brown and are about 50 x 40 mm. The young are much browner and have whitish streaks on the neck feathers. The keet's head is brown and buff with several black stripes, and the central stripe is broad and covers most of the crown.

Status
A non-common localised and non-migratory bird. Source.

Camera settings
ISO setting – 100
Aperture – f/5.6
Shutter speed – 1/200
Focal length – 167mm

Post Processing was done with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0.
TAZ, Luc, viv, wuta, hummingbird24, AndyB, saguzar, coasties, sandpiper2, scottevers7, gelor, Janice, blue-velvet29, LCannon, Dee_eS, Dyker, Miss_Piggy, Rehanna, betsie has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Luc: Cheer uploot 2 03-04 04:23
To reina: Italics etcloot 1 03-03 16:30
To wuta: Elvisloot 1 03-03 14:26
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • mrcrow Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 428 W: 114 N: 193] (3002)
  • [2006-03-03 12:29]

looks more like little richard to me...:D
phenomenal shot
animals look so serious and yet make us laugh
good character shot..

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2006-03-03 12:43]

What an incredible bird that you have very well captured ! This portrait of Elvis is great ! I also appreciate the complementary note... Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

  • Great 
  • wuta Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 856 W: 2 N: 617] (2142)
  • [2006-03-03 14:19]
  • [+]

Hallo Loot ,A Very beaytifull portret of elvis , great colours his eye pov and sharpnes ,very good thanks for sharing .
good weekend Teunie .

  • Great 
  • carper Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2009 W: 122 N: 2581] (8424)
  • [2006-03-03 14:24]

what a fantastic head Loot,
a fantastic colour shot, the quality is very high the pov is good and the dof is very nice, well done,
gr. jaap

Hi Loot,
What a crazy looking bird...I guess his mother still loves him! Really nice capture. I like the contrast between the punchy colours and sharp foreground with the muted soft backround. Nice control of fill flash...although just on exposure max out on the beak.
TFS
Paul

Hello Loot,

I think you are mistaken, Elvis never looked this good...

Superb colors, details, exposure, POV and BG.

That is one interesting mug shot, and I very much like the great eye contact with that great eye...

Wonderful posting, thank you for sharing it with us!

Have a great weekend!

  • Great 
  • reina Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 260 W: 1 N: 328] (2024)
  • [2006-03-03 15:43]
  • [+]

Hi Loot, well done! Really wel sharpness, lovely colours and good background, is it another lens?
I was wondering how you get the words in your comments in Italic?

Have a nice weekend. Reina

  • Great 
  • AndyB Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1391 W: 32 N: 1350] (3982)
  • [2006-03-03 15:44]

Hello Loot,
Amazing bird!
An excellent portrait,superb detail and colours.
Great shot!

TFS

Hi Loot,
Incredible bird, it´s new for me. Colours and details are very good. i always suspected... Elvis is alive...
Cheers
Hernán

Hi Loot


Ha ha.... perfect title :-)

Nice colours and well composed. Crisp, clear and sharp. Nice OOF BG.

Thanks.

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3066 W: 231 N: 6160] (21048)
  • [2006-03-03 21:28]

Now who is this charmer? He sure knows how to appeal to us women. : P
That hairdo is to die for, and his vivid colors are definitely out to attract some attention.
I really like the way you cropped him, Loot, and the exposure is just perfect. You managed to keep the beak from OE, a pitfall that I have a hard time overcoming. And I love the name you gave him. TFS. : )

Hi Loot.

How long did it take you to glue that wig on? Just kidding :) Beautiful close-up shot of this creature. Great capture of nice, vivid colors, textures, and details. Nicely framed as well.

Kirsten

Great shot Loot,
Very quick visit.
Well worth a big Smile.
Thanks for posting, have a great weekend.

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1873 W: 304 N: 4300] (14729)
  • [2006-03-04 3:17]
  • [+]

Désolé, pas le temps de traduire aujourd'hui.

Le titre est amusant. Elvis a de quoi être jaloux. Dommage qu'on ne puisse voir les déhanchements de cet oiseau.

Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go.
You have made my life complete and I love you so.
Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill.
For, my darlin', I love you and I always will.

  • Great 
  • gelor Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 126 W: 3 N: 12] (523)
  • [2006-03-04 4:39]

Bonjour,
Superbe couleurs saturées et une mise au point remarquable. Bravo.
Gérard

Haha, Loot, what a wonderful hairstyle, and the colours of this bird are so strange.
I love it so much, thanks for sharing
Sabine - wishnugaruda

Excleent photo, cleare and good seen details.
Marjan

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1575 W: 5 N: 2181] (12250)
  • [2006-03-04 8:55]

Le portrait est parfait Loot.

La coiffure de l'oiseau est superbe et les couleurs du plumage sont éclatantes. Félicitation pour le Bg propre qui fait bien ressortir le sujet.

Bravo pour le beau travail du flash.


joseph

He definitely looks like a rocker, I would have to say from the Thompson Twins or more somewhere in the era, but otherwise a great portrait shot of this goofy looking bird. :)

Hi Loot,
What a great portrait! The colors in this are very vivid and beautiful.
I always knew that Elvis was alive and living somewhere in disguise.
Very nice sharp detail and a great OOF backround.
Scott

Will revisit for pts.

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2233 W: 188 N: 1929] (8127)
  • [2006-03-05 18:09]

Hi Loot,
those colors are amazing as well as the sharpness. Great job with the POV and setting him free from the BG. Wonderful composition. Your note is very informative.. thank you.
Sky

  • Great 
  • osse Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 962 W: 0 N: 89] (7801)
  • [2006-03-07 16:13]

Hi loot,
What an incredible bird that you captured!Look like a rock star.
Well done.
TFS
osse

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3315 W: 148 N: 6113] (18648)
  • [2006-03-07 22:58]

Long Live the KING!!
Nice one Loot, you show the Guinea fowl so well. I saw some of these birds here, and when I looked up on Google about them I never realised that there were so many different sorts of them. Such strange little creatures.
Good portrait, sharp and colourful, quite a 'pretty boy' here. TFS...
Janice

Hi Loot!
WoW! Excellent colors! Great details, composition, light. Perfect DOF and POV! Well done!
TFS;-)
regards
Dorota

Great shot Loot! I know from experience that it is not that easy to take a good shot of Guineafowl: when eventually you manage getting close enough, they invariably succeed in messing up your picture in one way or another.

Tfs and good luck at the Umgeni bird park.

Hello Loot

Jy sê die knaap het daarop aangedring om 'n 'celebrity star' op TN te wees. Wel jy het die naam reg want dit is verseker 'n Elvis haredos wat die voël op hom se kop het en met al die 'make-up' aan kwalifiseer hy wraggies as 'n pop ster. Hy maak my nogal aan Nataniel dink, maar die tarentaal het egter meer hare as Nataniel.

Dit is 'n pragtige portret skoot van die vreemde voël. Ek het nog nooit so een gesien nie en dit is nou sommer regtig 'n aangename onmoeting.

Groete
Rehanna

Ai Loot - al wat hierdie outjie kort is 'n paar mooi oogwimpers!! Baie mooi foto. Ek dink hierdie voel sal mens nogal kan seermaak.

Hallo Loot
Superb display of colour. Excellent camera work and a real feast to the eye. Every little detail is just great. From the pitch black feathers on the head, right down to the pale blue in the neckline. This is really outstanding, and I just cannot get over the colours. The black is really black and the red is really red. The shine captured in the feathers on the head is a smacker and really reminds me of Elvis’s greasy hear. I am sure he sounds like Elvis to. Good focus and framing applied and image presented in a delightful manner. Thanks for sharing.
Love
Anna

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