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Portrait of a Black Drongo


Portrait of a Black Drongo
Photo Information
Copyright: Ram Thakur (ramthakur) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3295 W: 167 N: 9912] (32154)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-01-03
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D200, Sigma 70-300 4-5.6 APO DG MACRO, 58mm UV
Exposure: f/8, 1/200 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2009-11-06 21:51
Viewed: 212
Points: 28
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The Black Drongo stared back at me fiercely.
It was a hazy winter afternoon when I took this picture. The light was very tricky and I had no options but to shoot it from this angle to get a frontal view with both its eyes focused on me.

The Black Drongo, Dicrurus macrocercus, is a small Asian drongo. The Black Drongo is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia.

Description

This species was earlier lumped with the African species which is now referred to as Dicrurus adsimilis. This bird is glossy black with a wide fork to the tail. Adults have a small white spot at the base of the gape. The iris is dark brown (not crimson as in the closely resembling Ashy Drongo). Juveniles are brownish and may have some white barring or speckling towards the belly and vent and can be mistaken for the White-bellied Drongo. The race albirictus of northern India is large and the Sri Lankan race minor is small with the nominate race of peninsular India intermediate in size. Race cathoecus is found in Thailand Hong Kong and China.
They are aggressive and fearless birds, 28 cm in length, and will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened. This behaviour led to the former name of King Crow. They fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres to capture insect prey. The Black Drongo has short legs and sits very upright on perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals.

Habitat and Distribution

The Black Drongo is found predominantly in open country and usually perches and hunts close to the ground. They are mostly aerial predators of insects but also glean from the ground or off vegetation. They are found as summer visitors to northeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan but are residents from the Indus Valley until Bangladesh and into India and Sri Lanka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Drongo

TFL
rcrick, uleko, Alex99, Luis52, Noisette, sranjan, jlinaresp, albert, loot, matatur has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3816 W: 190 N: 11348] (34987)
  • [2009-11-06 22:15]

Hello neighbour!
Nice portrait of a Black Drongo taken from a fine POV to show its features, including the forked tail and the characteristic white lore spots with fine sharpness and clarity. Inevitably the correct exposure of the black plumage has led to a very light coloured sky but this does not detract from the high quality of this portrait.
Thanks and all the best to you Ram,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • rcrick Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 713 W: 36 N: 1554] (5001)
  • [2009-11-06 23:42]

Hi Ram,

When a friend of mine asked me if I had ever photographed a Drongo (australian slang for somebody behaving badley) I looked at him a little confused, he explaned to me that there was indeed such a bird called a Drongo something I had never heard of before, and much to my surprise I have actually seen one recently in my garden, unfortunately I did'nt have a camera at the time, this is a great capture showing excellent detail in the blacks. A beautiful bird with that wonderful forked tail, and very proud looking too, great shot, all the best,

Cheers Rick :)

very nice specie, not easy to exposure with all that black color
great job
Greetings

Matteo

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2388 W: 94 N: 5521] (17576)
  • [2009-11-07 1:23]

Hello Ram,
Beautiful photo of this Black Drongo looking straight at you. Not easy to make a good photograph of a black bird against the white BG. But you succeeded very well. Great details in the feathers. Good composition.
Have a good weekend,
Peter

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2992 W: 162 N: 950] (2789)
  • [2009-11-07 1:54]

Hello Ram,
What a brilliant view of a Drongo looking straight at you and showing clearly its beautiful tail! A fine composition showing sharp details and beautiful colours of the plumage.
TFS and best wishes, Ulla

Dear Ram!

You present us a nice little fellow that seems to look at us and to appreciate the fact he is photographed. The simplicity of the picture adds to the value of this portrait and the point of view as well as the composition offer us a good impression of the characterisics of this bird.

Kind regards

Markus

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3585 W: 143 N: 5669] (18533)
  • [2009-11-07 4:18]

Hi Ram.
You managed to take a nice shot of a very cute black bird. Exposure of the image and color/detail reproduction of all features of the bird are superb as well as impressive eye-contact and blameless composition. Best regards and TFS.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • Luis52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1110 W: 5 N: 3457] (12761)
  • [2009-11-07 10:20]

Hola Ram.
Muy bella foto. Gran contraste ente los colores negros del plumaje y el banco como fondo difuso que le da realce a este Drongo.
La pose y su mirada directa a la camara son puntos adicionales.
Saludos Ram,
Luis Leal.

Hello Ram
splendid !! i like the totally black plumage of this Black Drongo and the frontal view with great eye contact
wonderful pose and nice contrasting BG
Have a great sunday
Jacqueline

Dear Ram Sir,
Interesting photograph of black drongo with funny looks & great details. I like its natural surrounding. Whenever I tried shooting them; they had been always sitting on an electric cable; which was difficult to avoid.
Regards-Subhash

Hi Ram,

It is quite difficult to photograph black birds against the clear sky! ... You have managed a very good way. Excellent picture and good eye contact.

By the way, so expressive bird!

TFS

Jesús

Hello Ram,
Very nice portrait of this Black Drongo and a pleasant compo on a clear BG
Well done
Albert

  • Great 
  • loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5451 W: 594 N: 3650] (10031)
  • [2009-11-08 13:35]

Hi Ram

It seems the Black Drongo from your part of the woods are not the same species than the one we also know as a Black Drongo. Yours is Dicrurus macrocercus while the one we have is Dicrurus absimilis. Yours also seems to have a much deeper "V" in the tail than the one we have here in South Africa.

It is obvious that the lighting wasn't very accommodating (as you have mentioned), but under the circumstances it seems like you actually did quite well to capture the black bird. You've managed to obtain good definition with clear details of the bird. Although black always remains a difficult colour to nail you did get to show all the features (eyes, beak, wings and plumage) very nicely.

Well done and TFS.
Regards
Loot

You've succeeded in obtaining a lot of detail from a coal-black bird Ram, not an easy accomplishment my friend. THe high-key effect of the surroundings make this capture a real jewel, TFS indeed!
Mehmet

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