Hunting Currawongs

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Hunting Currawongs
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 654 W: 159 N: 889] (2827)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-04-07
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D-200, AF-S VR Nikkor 70-200mm w/ TC-20EII, Optex 77mm Circular Polariser
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/125 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-04-22 16:48
Viewed: 509
Points: 38
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The yellow eye and large beak of the Currawong are very distinctive features of this bird, known to most people in the southern and eastern parts of Australia. These are Pied Currawongs (Strepera graculina). I found them hunting in the bushes behind our place.

These birds will eat almost anything, from insects, to fruit and seed and vertebrates, ranging from tiny skinks to adult Spotted Turtledoves. They are also very voracious nest predators, causing depletion of many of the smaller native birds.

They are said to prefer forests and woodlands, though life in the city has been very good to this bird, providing much food, from plantings and feeders. They are said to be named for the sound they make with their call.

Much of this from: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=25
Sound bite from: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/images/audio/strepera-graculina.mp3

To get this shot, I had already seen these two “rummaging around” in the bushes. I just got down low and waited for them to get close.

Workflow for this shot was as follows:
The shoot – shot in Raw with Jpeg reference (260 mm ISO 320 f5.6 1/125)
NEF file adjusted for exposure, shadow, vignetting, brightness and contrast
Levels – adjusted for white and black points
Curves - adjusted RGB for contrast – very slight s-curve
Added saturation layer +15 to master
Saved as a tiff
for this post slight crop for position, resized, reduced noise selectively, created a new layer, selectively sharpened through use of a mask layer, framed and saved as a jpeg
CeltickRanger, Miss_Piggy, SueThomson, NinaM, boreocypriensis, izler, lovenature, rcrick, jusninasirun, mvdisco, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To rcrick: Currawongs or Small Birds, But Not BothJPlumb 1 04-23 15:33
To lovenature: Relation to CrowsJPlumb 1 04-23 15:11
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Critiques [Translate]

hello John

i am laughing because i love that severe look on you
of the one that is off-focus on the background,
you did an excellent image of these birds, fine POV & DOF,
i love the hard density of the colours, great sharpness
and details of the foreground, TFS

Asbed

Hello John,
Very nice capture, good sharpness, lovely
colors and light, ncie composition and good
point of view.
Angela

Hallo John
Great guys well portrayed. So well framed, with the most notable details. Textures in the feather coat are quite amazing. This is just a stunning capture with all technical aspects being great. The bird in the foreground details are displayed well and the white patch of feathers are great looking and very clear seen. Black and white is a great combination and your photographic skills paid of well in this image. The white is not burned out and one can see the details of the individual black feathers and where they are separated from one another. The yellow eye displays great against the dark background. Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards
Anna

Hi John
I would be tempted to call this photo 'evil eye'. Very interesting and well captured....It was well worth the wait! I like the effect of the front bird being sharp and the back one being blurred.
Cheers
Sue

Hello John,

just marking, no time,
Cheers,
Mariki

  • Great 
  • NinaM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 544 W: 0 N: 1303] (4365)
  • [2008-04-23 5:09]

Hello John, I love those birds unknown in North America, they are superb! I also love the beautiful light that you used to get the first one into focus, from the beak to the tail, everything is sharp and detailed and the pose of the bird is a good momentum. Amazing details in the plumage, I think the light and the pose are the two factors adding together for this superb capture. I like the bird standing in the back, out of focus, and the way you cropped it. It makes a beautiful composition of stunning birds, thank you! I forgot to mention that the work you did in PP was worth it.

Francine

Hi John,
Excellent shot of these hunting Currawongs my friend!
All are perfect!
TFS.
Cheers,
Bayram

  • Great 
  • izler Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1216 W: 78 N: 843] (6904)
  • [2008-04-23 10:02]

hello John
good capture and beautiful species
i like composition, POV, colours, light, pp working and note
TFS
regards
izler

Hi John
I wonder if these Currawong are related to the Crow or Raven family. They sure look similar and seem to have similar habits. This is a nice image of the Currawong in their natural habitat doing what birds do....eat.
TFS Janice

Hi John,

These birds have a wonderful song, I've had then in the garden a couple of times, love the low POV really getting down to there level, wonderful detail, well composed.

Cheers Rick :)

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1687 W: 20 N: 4738] (15476)
  • [2008-04-23 20:00]

Hi John,
Wonderful shot of these Pied Currawongs and I like that white tuft on its plumage and the intensity on its yellow eye. Very neat and sharp image with great control of light and exposure levels on its black plumage. The dense surrounding gives a fine perspective and the low POV chosen works well here. Very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Hi John,the choice of point of view is wonderfull,not easy to see a bird's pic from this corner!Excellent quality of sharpenss,light and colours,my best compliment,Luciano

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1086 W: 58 N: 2152] (7179)
  • [2008-04-24 11:22]

Hello John,
Special photo of special birds. The low POV is impressive. Good sharpness, details and colours. Nice DOF and composition. The 'evil-eye' in the BG is fantastic.
Regards,
Peter

Hello John. Nice sharpness of this Currawongs you got here to show us. I like the closeness of the beak to my monitor screen with very sharp around the eye. Well exposed plumage and detail which is hard for black bird. Thanks for sharing the useful note too. Best regards. Jusni

Hello John,
That yellow eye will stand out anywhere!
A fine bird with good details, action well captured...
A well composed presentation, and I notice the fine details in the plumage, the white spots stand out too!
Greetings,
Pablo -

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2726 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-04-27 21:19]

Hello John

Just marking the post for now

Rob

I love the bird in the BG, you seem to have disturbed it :)
An excellent capture, executed very well, indeed....
Also, I'll be irregular till I get a new comp, John. The old one's declared it's down n out!can't even get to use the simplest of PP softwares!
Thanks a lot!
Goldy

Hi John,
Beautiful catch of this bird with great sharpness and excellent light, good contrast and presentation, Excellent Done.
Michel

Hi John,

The currawong is busy at searching the ground and is not disturbed by the presence of the photographer. The details and colors of the bird are clear and sharp. The subject is well framed. Your not has a lot ov information. Have a nice day.

Pierre

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