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The bird family Petroicidae


The bird family Petroicidae
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: 2006-07-24
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM, Digital RAW 100, Hoya UV 77mm
Exposure: f/8, 1/200 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Travelogue: Winter Holiday Campervan Trip 2006
Date Submitted: 2006-09-13 7:36
Viewed: 1117
Points: 12
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Petroicidae

The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia or nearby areas. For want of a more accurate common name, the family is often described as the Australasian robins: it extends beyond Australasia, however, and includes not just robins but the Jacky Winter, the New Zealand Tomtit, some flycatchers, and scrub-robins.

Most species have a stocky build with a large, rounded head, a short, straight bill, and rounded wingtips. They occupy a wide range of wooded habitats, from subalpine to tropical rainforest, and mangrove swamps to semi-arid scrubland. All are primarily insectivorous, although a few supplement their diet with seeds. Hunting is mostly by perch and pounce, a favoured tactic being to cling sideways onto a treetrunk and scan the ground below without moving.

Social organisation is usually centered on long term pair-bonds and small family groups. Some genera practice cooperative breeding, with all family members helping defend a territory and feed nestlings.

Nests are cup-shaped, usually constructed by the female, and often placed in a vertical fork of a tree or shrub; many species are expert at adding moss, bark or lichen to the outside of the nest as camouflague, making it very difficult to spot (even when it is in a seemingly prominent location).

The relationship of the Petroicidae to other bird families is uncertain. They are clearly part of a particularly old lineage. Sibley and Alquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation studies put them in the "Corvoidea" (a huge group that includes the shrikes, crows and jays, butcherbirds, woodswallows, drongos, cuckoo-shrike, fantails, monarch flycatchers and many others), but this superfamily has been proven to be paraphyletic.

More recent allozyme studies[citation needed] suggest that they be placed with the Meliphagoidea - the superfamily that includes the honeyeaters, Australian wrens, Pardalotes, and thornbills and itself derives from the great Australasian corvid radiation.

Although the details remain uncertain, the overall picture is clear: despite the striking similarity between the robins of Australasia and the true robins of Europe, their evolutionary relationship is quite distant, and the Petroicidae are more closely related to the crows and jays than to the group of northern hemisphere birds which resemble them in appearance, diet, habits, and even coloration.

The above obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroicidae

IMAGE INFORMATION

Camera: Canon 20D
Time of day: 11:43 p.m.
Date: 24th July 2006
Weather conditions: Clear
Lens: Canon 100-400mm L IS
Filter: Hoya 77mm UV
Shutter Speed: 1/200
F-Stop: F/8
Focal Length: 400mm
ISO: 100
Support: Hand Held
Original file type: Digital Raw
ralfsworld, dew77, timonejoon, wallhalla15 has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello
One more cute little bird in you portfolio, Pam :)
I think you can make it more sharp i Photoshop but it's just me :)
I am waiting for next one :)
TFS
Ralf

Molto bello bel taglio bella composizione complimenti ciao gigicacco

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4774 W: 294 N: 4020] (13209)
  • [2006-09-13 10:25]

Hello Pam,
Wonderful capture of this cute,curious bird.Colors,POV,catchlight in eyes and composition are excellent.
TFS..:-)

Hi Pam

I was absent for around 2 month. so i start to look at your gallery. perfect and briliant.
I just love most of your shot.
well done

thanks for sharing
best regards
timon

  • Great 
  • hester Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1515 W: 18 N: 3165] (11638)
  • [2006-09-13 14:21]

Very sweet shot. Lovely POV. This bird looks quite curious. Lovely colours and composition

Pam, I love your cute birds!
Wonderful POV and framing. Great sharpness, very nice colours and great composition. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the week.
Gr.
Heinz

  •      
  • jeanpaul Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2009 W: 99 N: 3252] (14117)
  • [2006-09-14 21:20]

Salut Pam
Belle présentation ,les couleurs et la nettetée sont très bonnes, belle composition
J'apprécie tes beau oiseaux que l'on ne voit pas souvent
au revoir et merci ....JP

Bonjour,
Jolie position acrobatique.
Bonne journée.
clnaef

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