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Night Heron at Dawn


Night Heron at Dawn
Photo Information
Copyright: Ivan Kruys (Argus) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3816 W: 190 N: 11348] (34987)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-04-25
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon 400D, Canon EF 300 f4L + Canon 1.4 converter
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/500 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-04-27 0:38
Viewed: 758
Points: 62
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Hello everyone!
Ulla and I are back from a weeks's holiday in Mallorca.
Though we were frustrated by high winds during the first three days the weather improved enough to allow us to take some photographs and I shall post a few from this island.

Mallorca is heavily dependent on tourism for its income and its land-ownwers try to keep the tourists to the beaches and resorts by fencing them away from meadows and forests. We therefore found it impossible to stop the car and look for flowers, butterflies and birds. Those mountain areas accessible to walkers in the mountains are so heavily grazed by sheep and goats that the biological diversity is very limited.

But there is one nature reserve most famous for its birds that welcomes nature lovers and that is a large area of wetland known as Albufera in the NE of the island. If one arrives at dawn there are very few visitors and the birds are most easily seen.

This Black-crowned Night Heron was sitting on the top of a small tree on the other side of a small canal about 20 meters away. They roost in the shade during the day but after a night of hunting and fishing they wait for the sun to rise before making for their daytime roosts.

This small heron is fairly common in wetland around the Mediterranean area during the summer. It spends the winter in the tropics. This is an adult, the long tuft on the back of the head being typical especially during the breeding season, when the legs turn from yellow to an orange colour. The juveniles being brown.

This was taken with the camera hand-held at a distance of about 20 meters and after moderate cropping and size reduction the image was adjusted for brightness and sharpened a little. Despite the slight noise caused by the cropping I thought this was worth posting.
GLEM, Jamesp, ramthakur, zulfu, haraprasan, boreocypriensis, maurydv, xTauruSx, gerbilratz, eqshannon, matatur, jaycee, Hil, rousettus, nglen, jusninasirun, CeltickRanger, gannu, loot, SelenE, Alex99 has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello Ivan,

No time. Only marking today.
Mariki

  • Great 
  • GLEM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 526 W: 87 N: 697] (6115)
  • [2008-04-27 0:45]

hi Ivan,
quelle chance d'avoir été a Mallorca, mais quel dommage d'avoir été si frustré. Heureusement pour nous cette image que tu ramène est de qualité. Belle composition et couleurs bien restituées.
well done

gl

Hi Ivan, my today neighbour:) nice bird in great pose with fine details and excellent sharpness, good colors.
Ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1351 W: 0 N: 5494] (16522)
  • [2008-04-27 0:46]

Hi Ivan

Great composition with very good detail and eye contact. Useful note too.

James

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1899 W: 36 N: 5579] (18518)
  • [2008-04-27 0:57]

Hi Ivan,
So nice to see you back. This is an exquisite shot of this beautiful Night Heron with such amazing colours and sharpness on its silky plumage. Nice pose captured with perfect light and exposure levels. The blue sky as BG looks majestic and lets the subjects stand out so well. Excellent DOF, POV and composition. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

The morning time ambience is palpable in this shot, Ivan. It is manifest in the tone and intensity of light. This is also a finer point of this otherwise remarkable picture of a Night Heron.
Hope you had a great time in Mallorca.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful picture from your trip.
Regards,
Ram

  • Great 
  • zulfu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1057 W: 0 N: 162] (868)
  • [2008-04-27 1:09]

Hello Ivan,
Welcome back! Your capture is excellent!
TFS.
Regards,
Mehmet

Hi Ivan,
Hope both you and Ulla enjoyed your holidays. And I expect some more beautiful captures both of you have put in your bags. A nice capture of this beautiful night heron. Excellent composition and sharp details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2388 W: 94 N: 5521] (17576)
  • [2008-04-27 1:55]

Hello Ivan,
A photo in a pleasant atmosphere. Beautiful colours. Great sharpness and composition.
Regards,
Peter

Hi My friend Ivan,
Welcome back and hope that you and Ulla had a nice time in your holiday in Mallorca. Splendid shot of this beuty as usual my friend.
TFS and welcome back again:)
Cheers,

Bayram
Ps. I returned to Izmir last Friday.

Bellissima cattura, ottimi POV e DOF, molto bella la composizione, molto buona la nitidezza, mi sembra che senta un poco l'ingrandimento, molto belli i colori. Grazie e complimenti. Ciao Maurizio

Hello Ivan,
Welcome back! This shot is splendid as usual. TFS. Regards,
Deniz

Hello Ivan, what a great capture, stunning eye details and colours. Excellent POV and composition.

Nice shot, little noise did not affect much of details, great shot over all.
TFS
Best regards,
Kean

A superb re-introduction after a weeks vacation in which you did the same as you do at home so well...Another bird of which I had not heard and posed well against the blue sky. These reserves are a blessing not only for the birds and animals but for us and generations to come. We should have more of them all over the world.
Bob

A fine specimen Ivan, the whitish plumage displays a slight "blush", obviously stemming from the warm light of an early sun. You've again succeeded in capturing a perfectly focused bird under not so easy conditions, thank you indeed for sharing your take with us, my friend.
Cheers,
Mehmet

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2493 W: 11 N: 6885] (21912)
  • [2008-04-27 7:47]

Hi Ivan,

Nice to see you back again. I'm sure your trip was great in spite of the imperfect weather. I love the pose of this Heron on the treetop. He has a wonderful eye and a nice profile. Colors, details and composition are all very good.

Jane

  • Great 
  • Hil Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 705 W: 13 N: 1405] (5027)
  • [2008-04-27 8:47]

Hi Ivan

Great shot of the night Heron
Nicely composed with the bird and leaves filling the lower quarter of the frame, with a lovely pose and POV.
Nice details and good colours.
I like the early morning light too.

Hil

Hi Ivan,

Just marking today and be back later...

Pekka

merhaba Ivan,
sorry I cant visit some posts of yours. I have just returned from field. Today, I met this beautiful heron. My shots when it in flight. I like especially their red eye iris. Your capture great. nicely composed and focused. Thanks for sharing. best wishes
Ahmet

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2001 W: 226 N: 6845] (24727)
  • [2008-04-27 13:26]

I hope you enjoyed your holiday! I'm going to Spain in a few months so hopefully I might see one of these birds for the first time.
This shot is so good I can imagine I'm actually there watching it!
The warm morning light is wonderful!
Very sharp and detailed with great clarity.
A superb clean and non-distracting BG.
Excellent composition.
Very fine work, Ivan!
I look forward to more shots from Mallorca :-)

TFS!

Joe

Hello Ivan. Beautiful shot at this heron during your vacation. Stunning perch and I like the hairstyle here with excellent sharpness for a shot at dawn. Well done and thanks for sharing. Jusni

hello Ivan

excellent shot of the Night Heron, with fine POV and framing,
superb sharpness and details, i love the bird's pose, TFS

Asbed

  • Great 
  • gannu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1169 W: 4 N: 3262] (14691)
  • [2008-04-28 6:10]

Hello Ivan, Very nice shot and great view. The shot is perfect with all view nice composition. Well done Ganesh

Hej Ivan
It is nice to see you back from Spain. You captured well this heron in cool pose and good light & details.
TFS / Hälsningar
Ralf

Hoppas allt väl med er :)

  • Great 
  • loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5451 W: 594 N: 3650] (10031)
  • [2008-04-28 9:17]

Hi Ivan

The early morning light have resulted in some lovely soft colour tones on this shot. Actually there's a bit of a paradox in the title which could also be interpreted as: "Night heron - the Morning bird" (chuckle).

I just love that beautiful big brown eye and although the bird had its back turned to you it was fully aware of your movements as it kept the "eagle eye" on you. Lovely details on the plumage and the blue sky worked excellently as BG.

Well done and TFS.
Regards
Loot

Hello Ivan , a little grainy photo because of difficult light conditions , comp. and sharpness good , TFS and good luck .

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2908 W: 34 N: 8625] (32146)
  • [2008-04-28 11:40]

Hi Ivan. Good to see you back I hope the two of you had a good time. This is more than wor th posting. You have used the early light to give a warm glow to the bird. we can see from you details the large brown eye. a good POV . well done TFS.
Nick,,

  • Great 
  • jmp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1740 W: 95 N: 2273] (8411)
  • [2008-04-30 14:52]

Hola Ivan,
A really good capture for such a distance. Excellent composition, details and sharpness.
Saludos,
José Miguel

  • Great 
  • SelenE Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2405 W: 63 N: 4227] (13822)
  • [2008-05-01 0:37]

Hello Ivan,
A nice capture of this night heron in the breeding plumage. I liked the composition, pose you captured and the POV. TFS
Greetings,
Selen

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3585 W: 143 N: 5669] (18533)
  • [2008-05-05 0:25]

Hi Ivan.
I cannot understand your doubts about quality of the shot. It is very nice. Despite the shooting distance details and sharpness of the image are superb. I like wonderful warm lighting on the bird body. Shot is cropped and composed brilliantly too. Well done and TFS.
Alexei.

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