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Black Swan


Black Swan
Photo Information
Copyright: Pam Russell (coasties) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3816 W: 505 N: 8098] (27718)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-12-26
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 10D, Tamron 28-300XR, Hoya UV 62mm
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Birds Of New Zealand [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2004-12-30 2:57
Viewed: 1468
Points: 16
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
On our Christmas holiday camping trip we went to one of the Department of Conservation camping grounds on the waters edge of Lake Tarawera. The Black Swans were a wonderful sight.

The following information from nzbirds.com

Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)

The black swan was introduced as a game bird from Australia to New Zealand in the 1860s but also probably reached here naturally at about the same time as the population grew and spread very rapidly. They are probably still arriving here from Australia naturally so should be classified as a native bird. By the 1960s, there were well over 100,000 birds in New Zealand with 70,000 on Lake Ellesmere alone. However, the 1968 Wahine storm destroyed most of the feeding habitat at Lake Ellesmere and the population there crashed to 10,000 birds, never to quite recover. The Fish and Game council offers another view of its sudden decline, saying that from the 1970s on farm silt run-off killed the water plants that swan depend on. Starving birds began to eat grass, leading to culls in which many thousands of the birds were killed until their numbers adapted to their impoverished circumstances.

The main concentrations of the birds are now to be found on coastal lakes and lagoons around the South Island and in the Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay in the North Island, as well as inland lakes in the Waikato and Rotorua. About 5000 birds are legally shot each year out of a national population estimated at 60,000.

Image Information

Time of day: 10:35AM
Weather conditions: Overcast grey day
Lens: Tamron 28 - 300mm XR
Shutter Speed: 1/750
F-Stop: F/9.5
Flash: No
Tripod: No
Focal Length: 300mm
ISO: 400
willie, red45, Lourens, saintclaude, mogens-j has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Beautiful swan very well captured here Pam. Great detail and nice pose.
Good job.
Happy New Year

Composition: ****
Sharpness: ****
Color: ***
DOF: ***
POV: ***
Note:***

Very good capture, a better light would have been better.
TFS.

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2705 W: 74 N: 8864] (30243)
  • [2004-12-30 11:44]

I don't know why, but this swan looks a little sad to me. Great capture, Pam.

Excellent image, Pam. Excellent detaile and sharpness. Good capture of the water droplet. Nice note too.

  • Great 
  • japie Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1814 W: 100 N: 1904] (5187)
  • [2004-12-30 15:30]

This shot is very sharp and you exposed it very well. I also like the eye contact.

Very well done and thanks for posting. May you and your family have a wonderful and prosperous new year.

Nice capture of this swan, very sharp, graceful.
Well done. Claude

Looks like he has a slobbery problem;-). Very nice capture with lovely details and nicely composed. Well done Pam and Happy New Year.

Nice shot, though a little dull on the colour, but I have also found that shooting this species on a dull day is no and on a sunny day its even worse. Perhaps very early in the morning is the only solution for this species. Must be something to do with the feathers, as other black birds do OK.

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