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Lovely pair


Lovely pair
Photo Information
Copyright: Seyed Babak Musavi (babak) Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 48 W: 0 N: 180] (890)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-05-16
Categories: Birds
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): !Fine Feathered Friends [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-02-20 16:49
Viewed: 892
Points: 30
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I have taken this shot of this lovely pair in Negour near to Chabahar in Sistan va Baluchestan province in SE of Iran . I love this bird for many colour and nice voice and ... but about this species . This birs is resident just in south of iran especially in gardens and woodlands . we can see this species in most of time in action for hunting insects in fly.

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.[1]

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. [2][3] 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
pjvosman, mirceax, cedryk, JPlumb, Argus, snowfalken, wuta has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To simon182: Thanksbabak 2 02-22 14:07
To snowfalken: Thanksbabak 1 02-22 13:57
To pjvosman: Hibabak 1 02-20 18:00
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Critiques [Translate]

Very good picture! You've captured a great moment. It's such a nice species for photographers: very confiding and usually close to or in villages. What happened to the back-ground? It's yellow!

wow,
amazing shot with great details and super BG,
tfs
Mircea

Goof image. Most interesting decisive moment.
Well done.
TFS
Annick

  • Great 
  • cedryk Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 955 W: 57 N: 1603] (4947)
  • [2007-02-20 18:19]

Hello Seyed,
Very beautiful composition showing some behaviour of that bee-eater, supplemented by an excellent note. I like the light here and this nice uniform background which doesn't distract the viewer.
Best greetings,
Michal

  • Great 
  • hibou Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 194 W: 1 N: 345] (1509)
  • [2007-02-20 19:25]

What a great shot!
All details are just perfect, colors, sharpness, details, birds, compo, BG. Congratulations and TFS
Donald

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3060 W: 231 N: 5811] (19544)
  • [2007-02-20 21:22]

What a perfect composition, Seyed.
I love the way the two beaks are facing each other and totally aligned... in a diagonal.
The colours on the birds are just stunning, and the details are very clear.
I understand that offering a bug is a way of courtship.
Lovely moment caught.
TFS. : )

Hi Seyed, excellent composition of these guys on the branch. You even have one with a captured bee! The colour and detail are extremely good, with amazing detail on those feathers and eyes. The background I'm not crazy about. It just doesn't seem natural.

Thanks, John

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2456 W: 132 N: 7004] (21879)
  • [2007-02-21 4:06]

Hello Seyed,
Excellent capture and presentation of the Middle Eastern race of the Little Green Bee-eater. This is sharp and the two birds are nicely composed diagonally and shown against an excellent contrasting BG.
Fine shot!
I hope you achieve your bird photo goal as well!
TFS and best wishes, Ivan

Superb timing! Looks like the one on the left may be offering a gift!
Great sharpness and you've got a good composition, perhaps removing the distracting plant in the BG would have made this shot really stand out. Nice colours and contrast.
Well done Seyed

Simon

Hello Seyed,

What a great shot of one of my favorite birds! The composition is excellent. I love the fact that the upper bee-eater is looking back into the picture. The plain yellow background is also very appropriate for this shot. It makes the birds stand out perfectly.
The colors are also very beautiful. I've never seen a real bee-eater but I can say I like the colors in your photo. The image is very sharp, with great details, even in shadows, thanks to an excellent camera work. You exposed the picture very well. There are no over- or underexposed areas and the shadows are soft. There are however a few distracting elements in the picture which could easily be removed. I'll do that in a workshop if you don't mind. Congratulations for this excellent picture! Thanks!

With Friendly Regards,
Eddie

indeed lovely, TFS Ori

  • Great 
  • sayat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 267 W: 0 N: 181] (1037)
  • [2007-02-21 13:33]

Excellent composition. The background color and the overall sharpness are just amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Sayat

wonderful colors and composition,
excellent!!!

  • Great 
  • wuta Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 870 W: 2 N: 606] (2034)
  • [2007-02-22 13:16]

Hello Seyed , Fantastic shot , good colours sharpnes compositie details very good job ,Greetings Teunie .

Salam Babak
Intresting shot,
lovely light and colors.
very nice shot.I like it alot.
rgrds
Hamid

Salaam Seyed,

One bird offering another a gift is a nice way to celebrate Noruz!

Noruz Mubarak MF!



PS Love the way the birds are portrayed here wonderful "pair"! Thanx for sharing! Jay Abyjayson

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