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White-Faced Heron


White-Faced Heron
Photo Information
Copyright: Richard Cridland (rcrick) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 648 W: 42 N: 1198] (3860)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-07-15
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EF400mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x, SanDisk Extr. IV 2Gb
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/800 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Map: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Port of Brisbane Wetlands [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-07-15 20:42
Viewed: 556
Points: 34
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Apologies for not being around much of late, I’ve had a couple of days of work and also had some trouble with my internet access (courtesy of a windows update) which hopefully will be rectified very soon.

I took this shot of a White-Faced Heron down at the Port of Brisbane Bird Roost yesterday, both my wife and I had a very pleasant day sitting down there in the sun and enjoying a day out.

The White-faced Heron is mostly light blue-grey in colour, with a characteristic white face. In flight, the dark flight feathers of the wing contrast with the paler grey plumage, making this bird easily identifiable when viewed from below. It has a long, slim neck and a pointed grey-black bill. The legs are long and dull yellow in colour. Sexes are similar.

When breeding, the birds have long feathers (nuptial plumes) on the head, neck and back. The White-faced Heron has a slow bouncing flight. Young White-faced Herons are similar in appearance to the non-breeding adults (no nuptial plumes), but are duller, with little or no white on the face. They often have a reddish colour on the underparts.

They are the most commonly seen herons in Australia, and are found throughout the mainland and Tasmania, and most coastal islands. They also occur in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. They can be found anywhere where there is water, from tidal mudflats and coastal reefs to moist grasslands and gardens.

The White-faced Heron feeds on a wide variety of prey, including fish, insects and amphibians. Food is obtained in a variety of ways, such as walking and disturbing prey, searching among damp crevices or simply standing in the water and watching for movement.

They may breed outside the breeding season in response to rainfall. Both sexes share the building of the nest, incubation of the eggs and care of the young. The nest is an untidy structure of sticks, placed in a tree. Normally only one brood of young is raised in a year.

Details, Shot Raw and converted to Jpeg, cropped and reduced in size, sharpened slightly for posting.

File Name IMG_1221.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Date/Time 15/07/2008 11:04:55 AM
Shooting Mode Shutter-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 9.0
Metering Mode Partial Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF400mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length 560.0 mm
Image Size 740x800
Image Quality Superfine
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Daylight
White balance compensation A2 G2
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Neutral
Sharpness 5
Contrast 2
Saturation 1
Color tone 1
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 2:Enable
High ISO speed noise reduction 1:Enable
Highlight tone priority 0:Disable
File Size 171 KB
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting
CeltickRanger, Jamesp, ramthakur, mayuresh, rkailas, SueThomson, SelenE, Matt-Bird, darwin, maurydv, jpdenk, marhowie, goldyrs, anel, elizabeth has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To elizabeth: White-Faced Heronrcrick 2 09-07 23:34
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Critiques [Translate]

hello Richard

excellent shot of this heron with his proud pose with open wings,
superb timing too shoot it in image, i love that with not doing
a close-up you get in the image the reflection too, TFS

Asbed

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1305 W: 0 N: 5107] (15234)
  • [2008-07-15 22:39]

Hi Rick

Great shot mate! Wonderful pose and reflection. Well seen and captured.

James

What a graceful posture this Heron has adopted to be photographed by you, Richard!
And you have made no errors in capturing it.
With your camera settings and with a tripod in use, this image has turned out to be a masterpiece from you.
I love the reflection of the bird on the wind-disturbed surface of water.
Well done and thanks for sharing this super image.
Ram

Hello Richard,
Superb action shot with wonderful pose and reflection,perfect timing and focusing,
well done,
tfs

Hi Richard

This is a great moment. The heron looks majestic in that pose. Nice natural light as well.

TFS and Best
Ravi

Hi Richard
Your patience was rewarded in getting this shot. The Port of Brisbane is being very kind to you! Lovely capture and nice detail on his feather wings.
Cheers
Sue

Hello Richard,
I very well timed and beatiful photo. A wonderful pose from this good subject. A realy good photo.
regards
Matt.

  • Great 
  • SelenE Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2426 W: 63 N: 4002] (12926)
  • [2008-07-16 3:07]

Hi Rick,
Very nice action shot.I liked the timing and pose you captured. Reflection of the bird looks very good too. TFS
Greetings,
Selen

Hi Rick
Great action shot and timing
Focus and exposure are very good,never easy with white birds
Wonderful detail and reflection with nice natural color
tfs jon

Splendido momento di cattura, bellissima composizione con la postura ad ali aperte e il riflesso nell'acqua, molto buona la definizione, belli i colori e la luce. Grazie e complimenti. Ciao Maurizio

Hi Rick,

Excellent shot of this dramatic-looking bird, caught it at just the right moment with spread wings, very nice.

Thanks,
John

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1357 W: 72 N: 2886] (9535)
  • [2008-07-16 10:23]

Hello Richard,
Beautiful photo of this White-faced Heron in good sharpness and natural colours. Very good timing, POV, pose and reflection.
Regards,
Peter

Hi Rick,
Great timing, wonderful pose & reflection.
I think your settings were very good, just enough shutter-speed to freeze the movment, with complete DOF and nice details :)
Well done!
Howard

You've captured the environ around the bird, too, which is really what I like!
Goldy

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-07-17 8:43]

Hello Rick

A beautiful capture with the open wings.
The reflection adds a lovely accent to the image.
Nicely composed with a good pov and dof.
TFS

Rob

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1242 W: 0 N: 2237] (9414)
  • [2008-09-01 4:48]

Hi Richard,
I was going through your gallery and saw all the amazing birds from your continent. TN is such a great possibility to travel around in our mind. I stopped on this picture, because it has a good composition, fine colours, beautiful light and also for the funny attitude of the Heron.
I would like to thank you too for your kind comment on my butterfly picture.
Best regards
Anne

This photo caught my eye immediately as I took one last weekend with a lot of similarities, especially in the colours. I'll post it sometime soon so you can see.

The pose of the bird is excellent and the sharpness and detail are superb. Wish I had a lens like yours! My 400mm is the f5.6 so I lose out on the autofocus when using an extender.

Great work.

Cheers
Elizabeth

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