Srilankan Frogmouth | Thattekad

[Bibhav Behera]

The nightcrawler of the evergreen woods, the enigma of the forest, the most unique of them all, meet the Srilankan Frogmouth. If not for an experienced guide, it is near impossible to sight these birds. This was shot in Thattekad, Kerala.

The one facing the lens is the female and the one with the back showing is the male. One usually sights them in pairs. When the leaves move, the birds move in a similar pattern to avoid detection. Their camouflage is mindboggling.

On a different note, I am in love with the 5D Mark III's low light capabilities. This image was shot handheld at ISO 6400.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 300mm f/4 L IS USM + 1.4x II Extender
EXIF: 1/80 | f/5.6 | ISO 6400

Full Frame image. Comments and critiques welcome.

[Debasis Bose]

Extremely rare sighting. Nice shot and would say you are lucky to sight and capture them beautifully forever. Thanks for sharing. Cheers

[Mrudul Godbole]

Quite rare sighting of this bird and nice that you got it looking towards you. Good details. The vertical composition looks good. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice image. I like the eye contact. 6400 is still a bit more, nevertheless due to the low light it is not possible to get a good shot without it. Moving slightly more to the right would have helped in avoiding that bright patch on the right. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice pic Bibhav, like the eye contact and that amusing look. congrats on the new body.

TFS
Roopak

[Dr Ajay Kumar Singh]

Great composition, nice clear image at 6400. Thanks for sharing

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely image Bibhav. The eyes are locked on you, wish the other one had turned around too. Nevertheless a nice image. Thanks for sharing.

[Jitendra Katre]

nice and clear image, rare sighting..is there slight yellow tinge on image?

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

Wow! What a sighting....