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The Little One


The Little One
Photo Information
Copyright: Vishal Sabharwal (shal) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 287 W: 71 N: 499] (2086)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-02-27
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D AF ED, UV Filter
Exposure: f/5.0, 1/1500 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Gems from India [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-02-28 13:15
Viewed: 1365
Favorites: 2 [view]
Points: 80
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The Little Green Bee-eater, Merops orientalis, is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is resident in a belt across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and The Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam.

This species should not be confused with the Little Bee-eater, Merops pusillus. Migration is limited to seasonal movements depending on rainfall patterns.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It always has green upper parts, but the head and underpart colours vary widely depending on the race. Thus, southeast Asian birds have rufous crown and face, and green underparts, whereas Arabian breeders have a green crown, blue face and bluish underparts. The wings are green and the beak is black. It reaches a length of 16-18 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers. These elongated tail feathers are absent in juveniles. Sexes are alike.

This is an abundant and fairly tame bird, familiar throughout its range. It is a bird which breeds in open country with bushes. In Africa and Arabia it is found in arid areas, but is more catholic in its habitats further east. Just as the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. This species often hunts from low perches, maybe only a metre or less high. They readily make use of fence wires and electric wires. Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.

Unlike most bee-eaters, these are often solitary nesters, making a tunnel in sandy banks. The breeding pairs are often joined by helpers.They sometimes form small colonies, or nest near other bee-eaters. They lay 4 to 8 spherical white eggs. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs. These birds roost communally, lined up on a tree branch. The call is a soft trill.

A study showed that Little Green Bee-eaters are capable of putting themselves in the place of other animals. They were able to predict whether a predator at a particular location would be capable of spotting their nest entrance and behaving appropriately. The ability to look from another's point of view was usually believed to be possessed only by the primates.
Source:Wikipedia
uleko, elroyie, Maite, extramundi, lgfoto, Tamrock, claudine, Luis52, mirceax, Adanac, manyee, JPlumb, anel, Jamesp, ramthakur, star74, snowfalken, fiyo, Necipp, NellyD, dew77, jaycee, nainnain, ladyrain, prmsantos, marmottelolo, chrisnet, mlines has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • clnaef Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 773 W: 59 N: 646] (6692)
  • [2007-02-28 13:20]

Bonjour,
Sympathique oiseau...quel bec !
Bonne journée.
clnaef

Hi Vishal,
Quite funny bird; we don't have such birds here...:)
The bukeh is wonderful; beautiful colours as well.
TFS
Annick

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2577 W: 170 N: 7864] (24859)
  • [2007-02-28 13:58]

Hello Vishal,
This is a really lovely sharp capture of the Little Bee-eater in sharp focus and lovely colours. The composition is very fine too.
TFS and regards,Ulla

Hi Visahl,
Very nice capture witha wonderful smooth BG. COlours are very vibrant.
Cheers
Paul

Beautiful little bird, the colours are great and composition is very good.

Nice details, exposure and arrangement you post here, besides the lovely subject.
It fits nicely with the pastel BG.
I like this one as it is, but if you have enough resolution a closer crop would be great too.
TFS.

  • Great 
  • Dejv Silver Star Critiquer [C: 18 W: 0 N: 0] (75)
  • [2007-02-28 15:29]

good foto, colors composition!
TFS David

hello vishal!
very nice picture on this
beautiful bird
sharp with fine pov and
good composition
nice background to

  • Great 
  • Juyona Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2102 W: 6 N: 2113] (13565)
  • [2007-02-28 18:44]

Hola Vishal,
excelente cpose y compo. colores hermosos,
agradable encuadre... saludos

  • Great 
  • Luis52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1026 W: 5 N: 2887] (10445)
  • [2007-02-28 19:42]

Hola Vishal.- Bellos colores los del plumaje de este Pajaro. Nunca he visto algo igual. Gracias por compartir y por tu Nota. Luis52.

Hi Vishal,
great capture with super colours and composition,
tfs
Mircea

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1111 W: 1 N: 4518] (15128)
  • [2007-02-28 21:16]

Hi Vishal,
This capture is superbly detailed and fantastically colored with a fine composition and backgroung to highlight this beautiful bird.
Rick

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3100 W: 234 N: 5929] (20008)
  • [2007-03-01 0:01]

Absolutely exquisite, Vishal.
The colors are just gorgeous.
You captured this little gem with excellent focus and exposure.
The POV is perfect, showing off the forked long tail
TFS. : )

Hi Vishal, I have only seen these guys on TN, and you are presenting a beauty to us. It has very generously posed for you on this branch away from other distractions. The colour is very good and the detail incredible. Love that eye!

Thanks, John

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1238 W: 0 N: 2222] (9356)
  • [2007-03-01 3:35]

Hi Vishal,
This is such a beautifiul picture, well composed, simple, with wonderful colours and nice background. Bravo.
Best regards
Anne

Very very nice... beautiful colors and DOP is perfect.

I really like this one.
STeph

Very sweet and gentle shot Shal.Perfect diagonal composition and very ballanced colours.TFS

  • Great 
  • Debz Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 582 W: 0 N: 866] (3283)
  • [2007-03-01 5:24]

Lovely picture with wonderful colours and sharpness. Nice soft DOF and lovely composition.

tfs
debz

  • Great 
  • Maite Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1005 W: 64 N: 1242] (5082)
  • [2007-03-01 5:49]

Wow!!
Wonderful shot with an excellent composition! Perfect sharpness and DOF, and very beautiful colors.
I love it
Congratulations and thank you very much for sharing.
Best wishes
Maite

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1297 W: 0 N: 5080] (15138)
  • [2007-03-01 5:54]

I love bee-eaters but have very little luck with them - they always fly off as I am ready! Excellent composition and colours. TFS James

Great capture
Excellent composition, great neutral background highlights the bee-eater very well
Good sharpness and POV
Well done
Chris

Hello Vishal,
This picture of a Green Bee Eater verges on perfection in terms of point of view, focus, colour rendition and composition.
In short, it is a classic shot for which you deserve accolades.
Maybe we will run into each other at Okhla Bird Park shortly :-).
Best regards,
Ram

Hello Vishal,
I wish we have this specie here... What a funny fellow. It really looks disproportionate with its big head :))) This is an excellent capture with wonderful composition, details, exposure and this BG is just superb! What a strange little red eye he has :) This is a wonderful post with interesting notes. Thanks,
Claudine
:-)...

Hello Vishal,
Very nice capture of this cute bird.
Great point of view and background.
Perfect details and colors
Nice job and my compliments.
TFS

Hello Vishal,

What a beautiful capture of a superb, colorful bee-eater! These little birds are among my favorites although they don't live in my area. You captured this one very well and composed the image with great artistic skill. I appreciate the way you placed the bird off the center, slightly to the left and gave it plenty of empty space to look into. The dreamy, blurry background is perfect for this subject. It isolates it from everything else. There are no distracting objects in your shot and the diagonal branch divides the picture into two balanced parts.
The colors are rich, natural and well saturated. It is a pleasure to look at your shot. The excellent exposure and light management rendered outstanding details! How did you get that close to the bird. According to my knowledge these birds are very small and if you captured this one with a 200 mm lens you must have been pretty close. The only thing that I wouldn't have done is to put the signature on the picture. i would have opted for a simple frame and put it there so that the photo remains untouched. Overall an excellent photo with outstanding artistic and technical qualities! A favorite! Thank you!

With Friendly Regards,
Eddie

  • Great 
  • fiyo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 956 W: 5 N: 2365] (8834)
  • [2007-03-01 11:48]

Hello Vishal,
Wonderful capture.POV,colors,details,framing and composition are excellent. TFS

  • Great 
  • wuta Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 884 W: 2 N: 616] (2070)
  • [2007-03-01 13:05]

Hello vishal , Fantastic shot ,beauty colours compositie details sharpnes and bg , Greetings Teunie .

Great shot Vishal lovely sharp detail against a smooth background beautifully composed great colours tfs rgds Necip.

  • Great 
  • NellyD Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 236 W: 0 N: 478] (1783)
  • [2007-03-01 18:17]

Hi Vishal,

What an unusual but beautiful little bird :-)
Colours are very lovely, good composition, sharpness, BG and details, Well done!
TFS

Greetings, Nel

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2007-03-02 6:31]

Hello Vishal,
Magnificent bee eater capture.Glisten eyes are perfect.I liked sharpness,POV,simple BG,vivid colors,framing and composition a lot.Have a great weekend!
TFS..:-)

  • Great 
  • radz Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 620 W: 11 N: 625] (3390)
  • [2007-03-02 8:53]

Beautiful and cute shot!!Nice POV&Compo!!

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1902 W: 8 N: 4957] (16017)
  • [2007-03-02 11:06]

Hi Vishal,

I don't know how I missed this Bee-eater. Beautiful capture - wonderful colors, pov, details and BG.

Jane

bonjour
je ne connaissais pas cet oiseau mais toutefois je le trouve superbe, ce tres long bec et longue queue
bravo aussi pour ces super couleurs et bg net
bien vu merci
edith

Nice comp and colours! Great shot, its a beautiful little bird.

Peter

Beautiful little bird you have here,
nice modest framing along with good details and bokeh,
Lovely photo
Lorina

Hi Vishal,
A very good picture of green bee eater. Lokks like you have a very good Bird park in Delhi :-).
This picture is simple yet has a great impact. The placement of the subject just off the center , true colors , perfect exposure make this a great post.
And you have some good collection too
TFS
Goutham R

Beautiful photo!!! Excellent framing, composition, exposure, colours, DOF, detail... Well done!!!

bonjour vishal
j'ai choisit cette photo aujourd'hui car cet oiseau est magnifique dans ses couleurs.
la netteté est excellente.
vous auriez peu etre pu recadrer un peu.
bravo.
laurent

Hello Vishal,
Excellent capture of this beautiful and curious bird, good framing, colors and sharpness too, a wonderful shot, I like it.
Regards
Christian

  • Great 
  • mlines Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 509 W: 17 N: 555] (2560)
  • [2008-06-07 23:19]

Hi Vishal, A very good capture of this delicate little bird. The clarity of the beak and tail feathers is very good. The colours are excellent. TFS. urray.

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