Malabar Thrush

[Mrudul Godbole]

Photographed this at Eravikulam National Park. There is a canteen at the top where the forest department buses drop everyone. From there people need to walk to the top to watch the blossoms. After watching the flowers, we came down and were waiting for the bus, when I saw it rummaging through the vegetation (some 5-10 feet below on the slope) and probably feeding on the food thrown. It was not a good angle and it was perched on the pipe, but still thought of taking a photograph as till now I have sighted it a couple of times in the jungle but never got a decent photograph :).

Experts please confirm the id.

Canon 80D, Canon 100-400mm IS USM lens, f7.1, ISO 4000 (bad light), 1/60, 400mm, +0.3 EC, hand held

Comments and critiques welcome.

[Anil Kumar Verma]

Nice sighting. Love the eyes...

TFS..

Regards/ Anil Kumar Verma

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It was extreme bad light. And at that time I preferred to focus on the nilgiri langur perched on a branch in shadows in even worse light. :) This image despite ISO 4000 has come out well. Sharp and details are all there. The dynamic range of the camera is tested to the full by the bright flowers and pipe and the dark feathers. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely twinkle in the eye of the bird, nice one Mrudul.This is a very good image at such high ISO, except for the slightly overexposed pipe, there isnt any noise at such high levels. This bird looks more like a juvenile black bird rather than a malabar thrush. Thanks for sharing.