Hard to Swallow

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Hard to Swallow
Photo Information
Copyright: Paul Prince (PDP) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2964 W: 366 N: 3848] (11733)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-11-24
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO RF, Digital ISO 200, Hoya skylight (1B)
Exposure: f/7.1, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2006-02-28 4:57
Viewed: 1928
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 77
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Lesser Striped Swallow

A medium-sized swallow with a pale orange-brown cap; and a broadly streaked breast and belly. Size 15-17 cm - about the size of a Cape Sparrow. Afrikaans: Kleinstreepswael

The bill is short and slender, and it has a very wide gape. The bill is black and the legs and feet are brown. This species has an orange-brown cap, which extends onto the ear-coverts. The orange-brown areas are a richer colour than those on the Greater Striped Swallow. The rump is also orange-brown and the rest of the upperparts are dark glossy blue-black.

The underparts are creamy white, with bold, black streaking on the underparts. The streaking is much more heavy and bold than that of the Greater Striped Swallow. The streaking extends from the chin to the breast and flanks. The outer tail feathers are quite long and dark, and the undertail area is whitish.

The Lesser Striped Swallow is a common summer migrant to the warmer areas of the region. It is usually seen in pairs or small groups, and is most often seen close to the nest sites on a house or culvert, or some other man-made structure.

The Lesser Striped Swallow eats mainly aerial insects, but also some seeds.

The call is a loud squeaky nasal song of 9-10 notes, chip chip chwip, kreek, kreek, kreek, chwip.

The Lesser Striped Swallow breeds from July to April, and usually raises two broods per season. The nest is an enclosed bowl, suspended on the underside of a horizontal surface such as a fallen tree, roof of verandah, culvert or bridge. The nest has a long entrance tunnel and is built entirely from mud pellets and lined with grass and other fine material.


This chappy appears to be collecting material to build a nest. I hope you like it.

The notes are from: http://www.birdlife.org.za
goutham_ramesh, dew77, Janice, Dando, hummingbird24, AndyB, marhowie, Dave, Fisher, eruyanik, wallhalla15, TAZ, coasties, thistle, liquidsunshine, scottevers7, Luc, cecilia, jeanpaul, anavazao, soccer, firelord has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To wishnugaruda: HelloPDP 1 02-28 16:55
To Dave: Hi DavePDP 5 02-28 13:53
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Critiques [Translate]

magnifique photo, superbe piqué et joli bokeh !

Congrats ;) !

wow paul,

A great shot!!

I like the composition, colors and Dof.
The catch light in the eye is amazing!!
TFS
Goutham R

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2006-02-28 5:29]

Hello Paul!
Very nice capture.Moment you caught is great.Colors,POV,details,sharpness,BG and
composition are wonderful.TFS...:-)
PS:This photo was taken at 500mm focal lenght
and I got the answer;)

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3337 W: 144 N: 5637] (16707)
  • [2006-02-28 5:34]

Hi Paul, this is a different looking swallow from what I see around here. What a pretty fellow he is, they are quite startling colours and patterns. Excellent capture, especially against the BG, Well done
Janice

Superb shot, great sharpness and detail. Excellent neutral background. Maybe just a touch too central, but a minor nit.
Stunning work Paul and a beautiful subject.

  • Great 
  • Dando Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 643 W: 32 N: 790] (3052)
  • [2006-02-28 6:20]

Hi Paul, great composition with excellent detail, colour and DOF. The bird stands out really well against the neutral background. TFS.
Dean.

  • Great 
  • Zeno Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 489 W: 0 N: 935] (7943)
  • [2006-02-28 6:52]

Great shot of this swallow. Sharpness and colors are impressing!
TFS.

Regards,

Zeno.

Excellent picture. The BG colour enhances the beauty of this shot.

  • Great 
  • AndyB Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1593 W: 32 N: 1363] (3978)
  • [2006-02-28 8:24]

Hello Paul,
A very well composed shot.
Superb colours,excellent detail and a perfect background.
Everything spot on.
Great shot!

TFS

Hi Paul,
Running late, but well deserved :-) (sorry)
Thank You mf!

Such a clear, wonderful image, Paul. I do indeed like the bokeh effect of your background here. The bird screams its colors quite nicely here!

  • Good 
  • Dave Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 517 W: 47 N: 663] (2127)
  • [2006-02-28 10:11]
  • [+]

Hi Paul,
The background makes this one kind of bland to me.
Other than that, the bird looks good!
Well done!
Thanks,
Dave

ps "The notes are from: http://www.birdlife.org.za"
Creating html hyperlinks are not hard and would enhance the professionalism of your note. Birdlife enabling people to click right in rather than cut and paste...;-( You can even save a handy template in notepad where all you have to do is paste the link into the proper place and then copy and paste into your note.
<a href="PASTEurlHEREbetweenQUOTES">PASTEtitleFORurlHERE</a>
Here is the hard work for you. Just copy and save in a notepad.txt file and you will be good to go. NOTE: when you preview a note with the html hyper link the html code will be visible and it will not become a link until you add it. It is also good to double check your links after posting as a courtesy to make sure they work...;-)
Hope this helps!
Cheers!

  • Great 
  • Fisher Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234] (8915)
  • [2006-02-28 10:25]

Hi Paul,

A beauty, excellent capture and details. Well done on the composition. Super work.

Mike

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3082 W: 231 N: 5811] (19540)
  • [2006-02-28 11:02]

What a beautiful swallow, Paul. Have never seen one like this before. The colors and markings are gorgeous. You captured it with perfect focus and exposure, as usual. A great moment with its beak full. Congratulations and TFS. ; )

Hi Paul,
it's just perfect, what a marvelous bird, the colours and the design are wonderful.
I'm so proud to have nearly 15 different kind of birds in my garden this winter, but no bird is so colourful and impressive. It would be wonderful to see all the phantastic birds in your country, thanks that you are sharing those shots with us, bye
Sabine - wishnugaruda

bonjour paul
tres belle photo,good POV and DOF.belles couleurs et beaucoup de details.bravo.
laurent

  • Great 
  • Aramok Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 925 W: 99 N: 1395] (4789)
  • [2006-02-28 13:16]

great capture and lovely presentation. I've not seen one of these swallows before, so it is since to see a good picture of one and plenty of info,

thanks.

Hello Paul,
a very nice capture. Composition is great and good colours too. A good one, very well done. Thank you for posting.

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2395 W: 50 N: 3190] (10896)
  • [2006-02-28 13:47]

Wow ! What a lovely and interesting bird that you have very well captured ! Another great quality shot made by PDP ;-) I also appreciate the complementary note... Congratulations Paul and thanks for sharing.

  • Great 
  • chiliu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1549 W: 0 N: 1182] (6482)
  • [2006-02-28 14:34]

Hi Paul,
Very brautiful bird and you captured very well,
great POV to show the length, the details are very sharp and clear,
Thanks for sharing!

Hi Paul

Wow... what's not to like here! A stunning capture... Where do I start...... The BG compliments this beautiful Lesser Striped Swallow. The colours in the plumage are clearly seen with details sharp, crisp and clear. The position at the end branch has allows for no distractions. You have a catchlight in the eye to bring it alive and the bonus is the building material. Perfectly composed with magnificent visual impact. Thank you! :-)

  • Great 
  • aido Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1103 W: 173 N: 1227] (4038)
  • [2006-02-28 15:30]

Hi Paul,
You've isolated the subject superbly, excellent detail and colour. As somebody already pointed out, that lens has superb bokeh. Really nice shot.
Adrian

Lovely shot Paul!
Great to see a bird doing something. I love the colours and POV here. In fact I think the quality of this picture is perfect. Oh wait, I've just found one nit: the BG isn't enough messy and distracting ;)
VERY WELL DONE ON THIS ONE!

Excellent lighting, the details are fantastic on this beautiful capture. Well done Paul. :)

Very good capture Paul,
Good detail, colours and sharpness.
Composition and exposure are good. Good POV and framing.
Thanks for posting, have a great week.

Hi Paul,
I am getting in at the end of the train, and I think everyone has covered all the best comments. I'll just say that I agree with everyone about how good a shot it is, and give you a high five on this one!
Scott

Great picture! Nice composition the colours are great, the BG is cool, just a great picture.

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1702 W: 5 N: 2122] (11724)
  • [2006-02-28 22:54]

Un superbe oiseau,les couleurs et détails sont excellents et le BG est lumineux et contrastant.

Félicitations Paul!


Merci



joseph

SUPERB! Wonderful capture, so clear and sharp with amazing details! Everything is perfect. I love the colors.
Congratulations and TFS!

Hello Paul,

It is an amazing bird, the colors and markings are very bold.

A wonderful image with excellent details, colors, POV, BG and exposure.

Nicely composed and presented, thank you!

Hi Paul,
superb colours, composition and bird!
Excellent focus and details.
You had catch at the right moment.
Cheers
Hernán

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2058 W: 316 N: 4403] (14709)
  • [2006-03-02 22:27]

Hello Paul.
"collecting material to build a nest". I will see such scenes sooner here, I hope.
Sharp details. No nits. Lovely swallow of SA.
Very well done. Thank you.

Stunning! Absolutely stunning catch. color, bg, pose, sharpness, POV, DOF everything on target. TFS!

Excellent capture,the colour and comp looks great...
Very well presented...

Bonjour Paul
Tres belle photo, belle composition, bon POV etDOF.Trèes belles les couleurs et beaux details.C'est la première fois que je vois ce si bel oiseau.
Bravo et merci.....JP

Hi Paul!
Great composition! Excellent POV, colors and details! Perfect work, brawo!
TFS;-)
regards
Dorota

Hi Paul,

I have not been on the site for a while. I visited again today, and decided to have a look at your pictures. They are all so good that it is difficult to choose one. This picture is perfect. Such a pretty thing, with the mud for its nest.

Well done.
Jan-Hendrik.

WOOOOOOOOOW
perfect timing, sharpness, details and POV!
Very good DOF!
Great colours!
Thanks Ana:)

Paul,

The composition, POV, sharpness, detail, DOF and BG are all great. A very well detailed pic of the swallow. Colours and lighting I like too. TFS,
Sheriff

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