Good light on a perpetual motion bird

A small tree at my mother's backyard in Bacnotan (La Union) is currently teeming with White-eyes, feasting on its berry-like fruit.

Though they're numerous, these tiny birds (a mere 4 inches from tip of bill to tip of tail) are in constant motion, and are tough to nail AF-wise and exposure-wise. I had to patiently wait all day (over the last few weekends) in an improvised blind to get a few decent captures.

 

This last weekend, in the late afternoon, I got very lucky with one particular capture - a beam of golden light managed to pierce the foliage and illuminated a clean perch. Improbably, a White-eye used that spot and lingered for a few seconds - long enough for my AI servo AF to lock well on the head area and for my itchy shutter finger to fire a short 10 fps burst.

 

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Lowland White-eye (Zosterops meyeni, a near Philippine endemic)

Habitat - Second growth, scrub and gardens. 

 

Shooting info - Bacnotan, La Union, Philippines, July 17, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 F/4 DO IS ii + EF 1.4 TC III,
560 mm, f/5.6, ISO 320, 1/500 sec, 455B/UBH45 support, manual exposure in available light, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.

High res 1500 x 1000 version

A wet and miserable White-eye

We Homo sapiens are very fortunate - we need not forage for food each time we are hungry.

Our feathered friends are not as lucky. No refrigeration, no fast food restos, no canned goodies, no preserves, no pizza deliveries. They have to search for food each time they need sustenance, in any weather, often at the risk of being preyed upon by other birds. Or worse, trapped or hunted.

I chanced upon this little dynamo while it was feeding at a fruiting tree, just after some heavy rains. I felt privileged to be able to observe its behavior up close, and capture its seemingly sad look, complete with wet feathers.

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Lowland White-eye (Zosterops meyeni, a near Philippine endemic)

Habitat - Second growth, scrub and gardens.

Shooting info - Bacnotan, La Union, Philippines, July 10, 2016, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 F/4 DO IS ii + EF 1.4 TC III,
560 mm, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 1/320 sec, hand held, manual exposure in available light, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.

High res 1500 x 1000 version

Butterfly at Bued River

With the advent of the rainy season, plants along the Bued River are in full bloom. And where flowers are plentiful, many species of nectar-sippers congregate. 

This was a perfect occasion to take out my 1D Mark IV from storage for a de-rusting exercise. The combo's AI servo focus is lightning fast, especially with the bright f/2.8 aperture. Likewise, the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II's 1.2-meter minimum focusing distance allowed near-macro captures of the delicate, colorful subject.

Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, July 8, 2016, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV + EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II,
200 mm, f/2.8, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, manual exposure in available light, hand held.

High res 1500 x 1000 version