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Village Weaver female


Village Weaver female
Photo Information
Copyright: Peter van Zoest (PeterZ) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5137 W: 166 N: 13121] (49139)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2010-05-13
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D300, AF Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6 G, Digital RAW
Exposure: f/10.0, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2010-12-14 7:08
Viewed: 5157
Points: 66
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
After two ‘action photos’, this time a ‘still life’.

This female of the Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus), also known as the Spotted-backed Weaver or Black-headed Weaver (the latter leading to easy confusion with P. melanocephalus), is a species of bird found in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It has also been introduced to Hispaniola, Mauritius and Réunion.

This often abundant species occurs in a wide range of open or semi-open habitats, including woodlands and human habitation, and frequently forms large noisy colonies in towns, villages and hotel grounds.

This weaver builds a large coarsely woven nest made of grass and leaf strips with a downward facing entrance which is suspended from a branch in a tree. 2-3 eggs are laid. This is a colonial breeder, so many nests may hang from one tree.

The Village Weaver is a stocky 15-17 cm bird with a strong conical bill and dark reddish eyes. In the northern part of its range, the breeding male has a black head edged by chestnut (typically most distinct on the nape and chest). Towards the southern part of its range, the amount of black and chestnut diminish, and the breeding males of the southernmost subspecies only have a black face and throat, while the nape and crown are yellow. In all subspecies the breeding male has a black bill, black and yellow upperparts and wings, and yellow underparts.

The non-breeding male has a yellow head with an olive crown, grey upperparts and whitish underparts. The wings remain yellow and black.

The adult female has streaked olive upperparts, yellow and black wings, and pale yellow underparts. Young birds are like the female but browner on the back.
Village Weaver feeds principally on seeds and grain, and can be a crop pest, but it will readily take insects, especially when feeding young, which partially redresses the damage to agriculture.
The calls of this bird include harsh buzzes and chattering.

Source: Wikipedia
Argus, marius-secan, jusninasirun, joska, ellis49, fransswanepoel, CeltickRanger, siggi, maurydv, Noisette, nasokoun, Dis. Ac., boreocypriensis, paolo49, marhowie, Pitoncle, Mikolaj, Adanac, lazyman has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5038 W: 260 N: 15594] (50626)
  • [2010-12-14 7:14]

Hello Peter,
A superb composition, nice sharpness, excellent POV, natural colours, natural OOF cobtrasting BG and fine lighting contribute to an high quality portrait of a female Village Weaver.
Thanks and kind regards,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • zetu Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 967 W: 26 N: 3888] (16941)
  • [2010-12-14 7:22]

Hello Peter
Another interesting bird excellent presented. Thanks for sharing
Razvan

Hello Peter,
Great capture with splendid colours and razor sharp details.
Excellent composition with nice POV. It is a first class image with
perfect exposure and clarity.
Thanks for posting such a nice portrait.
Marius.

That's a wonderful shot Peter!!! The plumage of this female Village Weaver is remarkably similar to that one of our local female Masked Weaver. Good point of view, nice detail taken under fine daylight with pleasant sharpness and composition. Bravo, a classical image indeed!
Regards,
George Veltchev

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310] (10940)
  • [2010-12-14 7:35]

Hello Peter,
A beautiful view of this lovely Weaver with great focus on the eye.
Great details and beautiful colours in a pleasant composition.
TFS and best wishes, Ulla

Hello Peter.
This is a fine weaver with the eye and the head so sharp exhibiting excellent details.
The perch and framing are splendid and a pleasure to look at.
Thanks and kind regards - Jusni

  • Great 
  • joska Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 806 W: 0 N: 4092] (22535)
  • [2010-12-14 8:24]

Hi Peter,
Excellent photo of this Ploceus cucullatus, very good presentation too, TFS!

Hello Peter.
a new high quality bird picture.
Very nice colours, especially the eye is amazing in its red colour. It's also well composed and not to high pose.
a small nit is the big branch in the BG but this is nature, so we have to accept it.
Well done, mf.

Regards
Gert

hallo Peter
super foto met veel scherpte en mooie kleuren
goede compositie met een soft achtergrond waardoor hij er mooi op komt te staan
super shot Peter
groetjes lou

Very nice Peter. Pin sharp image with good colors and composition. Good eye contact.
TFS
Greetings
Frans.

hello Peter

excellent photo of this beautiful bird,
with fine POV and appropriate framing,
excellent focus sharpness and details,
beautiful expression on his glance, TFS

Asbed

Ciao Peter, lovely bird in nice pose on a beautiful lighting BG, fine details, wonderful colors, splendido sharpness and fantastic light, great composition, very well done my friend, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3097 W: 109 N: 12399] (52850)
  • [2010-12-14 11:01]

Hello Peter,
this bird is lovely. The color is amazing, details, sharpness and POV are very nice. Very well composed with a neutral BG that shows off this bird so well.Best regards Siggi

Ciao Peter. Impressive red focused eye and brilliant colours. Perfect sharp and DOF. Very well done.

Roberto

Hallo Peter,
a very beautiful capture of a Village Weaver female, very good sharpness and splendid delicate colours, excellent POV and composition
TFS
Best regards
Maurizio

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
  • [2010-12-14 15:07]

Hi Peter,what a nice yellow surprise from your Senegal trip,and what a impressive quality in an impossible backlight,very professional work,thanks for share,have a nice day,Luciano.

Hello Peter
wonderful bird very well captured from a nice POV, his Village Weaver female is very well focused, excellent details on his yellow plumage, i like his red eye and also the blurred BG
Have a good night
Jacqueline

Hello Peter,
Very natural shot, correct color level, a perfect composition and POV, I like a lot the bird's pose.
Regards, TFS
Jesús

POV and composition very good, the colors very nice, with writing to the eye to distinguish, very good photo!
TFS Nasos

  • Great 
  • foozi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2791 W: 0 N: 6696] (25839)
  • [2010-12-15 1:21]

Hello Peter,
very sharp shot of this weaver from bottom-up capture.
The sharpness on the head is excellent. The eye is so well seen in red ring.
Very well captured and presented in clean view.

Regards,
Foozi

Hi Peter.
Beautiful photo with good composition wonderful colours and very good sharpness.
Regards, Christodoulos

Hallo Peter,

de wevervogel en mooi genomen.
Goede scherpte en detailering in de veren en verder met natuurlijke kleuren.
Deze wever ken ik niet, heb vroeger wel wevers gehad in de buitenvoliere.

Gert

A fine capture of this beautiful lady weaver Peter.
Lovely pose, nice detail and composition!
TFS and have a nice day!

Bayram

  • Great 
  • nagraj Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1618 W: 106 N: 3208] (15166)
  • [2010-12-15 6:16]

Hi,
Beautiful species of weaver bird which is looking very serious here, is it trying to chose the nest. Good composition and lovely lighting. tfs
nagraj.v

Hello Peter,
another very interesting image, light, colors and details very beautiful. Another nice picture. Best regards, Paolo

Hello Peter,
Excellent image of this beautiful bird captured with fine details and great sharpness. Well done!
Regards,
Mircea

Beautiful female weaver Peter, really like the yellow & red eye combo here.
Well composed, great catch.
Merry Christmas!

Bonjour Peter,
Très bon angle de prise de vue restituant le sujet dans une très belle attitude ; la bonne lumière et l'excellente profondeur de champ permettent d'apprécier la finesse des détails et la délicatesse des couleurs.
A bientôt sur TN pour de nouvelles aventures.
Gérard

  • Great 
  • fiyo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1053 W: 5 N: 3475] (15161)
  • [2010-12-16 14:13]

Merhaba Peter,
Göz teması ile süper bir kompozisyon olmuş.Renkler, netlik çok başarılı.
Tebrik ederim,
Selam ve sevgiler..

Hello Peter!
Amazing bird. Wonderful pose. Superb scene and scenery.
Fine lightness and colours.
Good POV and DOF.
Interesting information.
Well done!

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1273 W: 1 N: 6188] (21378)
  • [2010-12-19 11:50]

Hello Peter,
You have captured a wonderful close up of this beautiful species. The colours, details and composition of your image are superb and give me a great view of this Weaver. Thank you Peter.
Rick

Hello Peter,

Well composed, good focus and an interesting yellow bird!
I saw this kind of bird firstly, it is impressive that there is a yellow spotted pattern in a body, yellow wing and a white body. And, the contrast between the foreground and the background with blurred image draws out a good effect for the whole, I think.

Regards,
mikio

Hello Mr.Peter,
Very beautiful picture.Excellent sharpness and depth.Like it.
Thanks for sharing,
Regards,
Srikumar

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