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Great Titmouse


Great Titmouse
Photo Information
Copyright: Bente Feldballe (milloup) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 538 W: 48 N: 628] (1704)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-04-29
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Tamron 28-300XR
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/800 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Great Tits [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-01-02 16:14
Viewed: 2900
Points: 36
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This male great titmouse - parus major - was watching its territory from the top of the bird house. Great tits are 13-15 cm and weigh about 20 gram. These birds need enormous amounts of food to keep going during winter. A great tit will need about 1 calorie per 1 gram of body weight per day. Compare this to a grown man whose daily need is 0.04 calories per gram of body weight - although I know a few men who get somewhat more than that, especially around Christmas ;-)).

The largest European tit - green and yellow with a striking glossy black head with white cheeks and a distinctive two-syllable song. It is a woodland bird which has readily adapted to man-made habitats to become a familiar garden visitor. It can be quite aggressive at a birdtable, fighting off smaller tits. In winter it joins with blue tits and others to form roaming flocks which scour gardens and countryside for food.

This bird is just a little bigger than the Blue tit and in the garden is just as common, lively and attractive. It's a bird that starts to sing very early spring (often it's still winter), although it's song isn't very impressive most of the times. Of all the tits this one looks for food on the ground most regularly and in winter it can be found in groups of little birds with among others Blue Tits and Greenfinches. Great Tits are curious and intelligent birds. They will use whatever source of food people willingly or not supply and in that respect resemble the even more nosy Blue Tit very much.

With most tits it is impossible to identify males and females by just looking at them. The Great Tit however is the exception. The blue line on the chest of the bird is much bigger in males and runs all the way down. The female's tie is much smaller and often less colorful. It narrows towards the end and the last part exists of just a few smears before the line ever reaching the female's legs.

This bird belongs to the family of Tits or Titmice, in the Usa and Canada called Chickadees, (Paridae). It is very common in our garden and can be seen in Denmark all year round. It lives in woodlands, parks and gardens mostly. It eats insects, berries, seeds and spiders. Compared to the male, the female is slightly paler, but it usually is very hard to tell the difference. The Great Titmouse makes a nest in a hole. Actually any hole will do, including those in rocks, trees, or those made by woodpeckers or man. Not less than eight to twelve eggs are produced (usually four to six survive). They are bred for two weeks. It takes the young some 18 days to be able to fly out of the nest.
Treatment: Crop, Contrast +10, Brightness +10, Saturation +10, USM and resize.
rlortie, Lesley, Robbrown, coyote, gerhardt, LCannon, ellis49, netfalls, extramundi, Luc, Callie, mogens-j, ddg has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To coyote: Tamron 28-300 lensmilloup 2 01-03 16:56
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Critiques [Translate]

Very nice image of my favorite bird Bente. I did not know that there were a yellow form of titmouse. Excellent background and DOF. Very good compo and colors.

  • Great 
  • Lesley Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 297 W: 13 N: 913] (2988)
  • [2005-01-02 18:05]

This is such a darling bird, Bente. It looks like a combination of two birds...it has the head of a Chickadee and the body of a Warbler. I like how you have captured him on the roof of a birdhouse. Lovely color and focus.

Very well captured Great Tit Bente the detail in all the feathers is really good even in the Blacks and the whites well done this is so hard to do.
Looks like there might be a lichen picture to be had there too on the bird table roof.

Bente- Really a nice capture, sharp, focused- great.
Your notes are so comprehensive, I feel inadequate with mine- Excellent.
Tell me of your lens if you can find the time, my friend Harry from Anchorage, Alaska just got one for his 20D- I'm referring him to your shot here. (I'm thinking of one for myself).
Kudos.
JJ

Firstly, please allow me to wish you all the best for 2005, Bente. I have been away for a while and missed some of your shots, I have a weeks vacation left and might drop off the radar again.

This one stands out because of the strong composition and perfect sharpness. Interesting write up, too. It is a lovely critter.

Alas... the weight gain of the festive season has caught up with me as well. :)

Beautiful well composed shot. His feathers are so clear and sharp. I love the yellow color on his feathers, matching the yellow color on the house. Excellent!

Very nice talgoxe Bente.
Well exposure, good colours and great sharpness.
A very good note too.
Very well done.

A great capture, lovely bird.
Great shot, well done.

  • Great 
  • japie Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1814 W: 100 N: 1904] (5187)
  • [2005-01-03 15:14]

We are all slim and sexy, no matter the amount of calories :)

The sharpness here is stunning and I like the composition. I also like the eye contact.

Excellent job and thanks for posting

Beautiful picture, the sharpness, contrast and colours here make the detail wonderful. You got a strange background with the vertical pattern, it defines nicely the shape of this little fellow. Good work, Bente.

Nice pose Bente. Great DOF and POV. Well done

  • Great 
  • Callie Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1252 W: 106 N: 2659] (7495)
  • [2005-01-04 14:03]

Hi Bente
VERY nice capture of this fine, feisty little perrisher, They are So cute, and I never got near enough to one to nail it properly. I have seen 3 speices of tits so far, and maybe, some more next year in the UK, DV.
Thanks, this note taught me something new about the diphormism between the sexes that is not covered in my guide!

Great set-off for this cute little fellow Bente. Excellent sharpness and dof to show the details all over and the colours and light are just perfect. I wonder who's feeding house he is sitting on - I can see it is not mine.

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2058 W: 315 N: 4404] (14713)
  • [2005-01-06 9:30]

An good post, Bente, of this Great Titmouse .
Nice pose, goog composition, POV, DOF and sharpness.
A great work: picture and a very informative note.
Thanks

  • Great 
  • edji Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 83 W: 8 N: 22] (426)
  • [2005-01-09 12:10]

Very nice. The framing is great and the colors too. I like the DOF with the out of focus part at the bottom of the picture.

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2306 W: 324 N: 4306] (16856)
  • [2005-02-28 14:07]

Bente, cute bird in a nice pose. Great composition and pov. Dof is perfect, as well as sharpness.

Beautifull

  • Great 
  • ddg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 881 W: 23 N: 927] (4997)
  • [2005-05-03 3:27]

C'est peut être la mere de "mes petits" !!! Belle photo Bente et bien mise en valeur par le fond gris. Félicitations Didier.

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