Eastern Spinebill, a photo from Victoria, East

Photographer's Note

Although these birds are common in Eastern Australia, I hadn't seen one until some took up residence in a clump of Correa in Yarra Bend Park, near where I live.

They are a nectar eating bird, using their slender beak to extract it from flowers, like those of the Correa. Like a lot of small birds they flit from branch to branch rarely keeping still for long enough to photograph (if you are as slow as me).

f/5.6, ISO800, 1/125s, 400mm

ChrisJ, jemaflor, pajaran, lucasgalodoido, Royaldevon has marked this note useful

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ChrisJ (172440) 2021-06-22 22:58

Hi Stephen

I have been to Melbourne and surrounds many times but have never seen this type of bird before, which looks a little like a hummingbird. Good selective focus with a nice profiled shot of this secretive bird. Tfs!

jemaflor (148334) 2021-06-22 23:04

Hi Stephen,
Congratulations, excellent photo well managed, perfect sharpness on this beautiful bird, good resuklt with the bokeh, interesting attitude for the attentive bird, tfs.

Silvio1953 (223069) 2021-06-23 3:23

Ciao Stephen, great capture of lovely bird in nice pose on beautuiful blurry BG, wonderful natural colors, fine details and splendid sharpness, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

lousat (140058) 2021-06-23 3:37

Hi Steve,it's a great scoop for a slow photographer as you..ahaha.i'm glad to see this lovely species in this perfect capture,always difficult because timing and distance, and in this case in a bad light too, the result is perfect!! Have a nice evening and thanks,Luciano

holmertz (103710) 2021-06-23 4:20

Hello Steve,
The bird is very pretty and well placed. The background is perfectly blurred, but it might have been useful to slightly adjust light and contrasts.
Regards,
Gert

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2021-06-23 7:31

Hi Stephen,
beautiful shot of this red eyed birs, the focus and DOF are perfect. Great job, my friend.
Regards,
Lucas

abmdsudi (95869) 2021-06-23 17:58

Hi Stephen
A very attractive looking little fella even if determined to give you a hard time! You certainly captured all of his beautiful colours and detail in this, and focus exactly where it should be. Well spotted.
Best regards

ifege (49573) 2021-06-24 0:23

Hi Steve
Another good one for the TE Australian bird collection. They are regular visitors to my garden but I never seem to have my camera handy.
cheers
Ian

Royaldevon (86526) 2021-06-25 1:48

Hello Stephen,

This is a really interesting bird to have as a neighbour!
Its beak makes you think of humming birds, which also feed on nectar!
What a sharp photograph you have achieved, the bird stands out crisply against a useful bokeh, and the composition is spot on!

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

vjmite (6706) 2021-06-26 22:19

Hi Steve,

I sometimes see spinebills in my yard, but they are usually partly hidden in the foliage, and moving about too fast to get a photo, so congratulations on getting this super-sharp close-up. We can even see some pollen on the beak. The low f-stop keeps the background nice and blurry to make the bird stand out nicely. Excellent composition too.

Vince

GyurMaster (25055) 2021-08-10 12:07

Hello Stephen,

It is a very well-taken photo withe the carefully placed bird and branch and the nice, smooth bg. I would have taken this proudly myself.

Best Wishes,
Gy.