Black-rumped Flameback

[Anil Kumar Verma]

Dear Friends,

Diwali this time was in Haridwar. Stayed at an apartment complex named "Jurs Country". Its just before Jwalapur on Delhi Haridwar road. Pretty large complex & mostly carved out on farmland.

Behind this complex , farmlands & orchards are still there. Explored the area early morning & pleasantly surprised to find so many birds. Bulbuls, White Eye, Bablers, Treepie , Prinias ,Common Iora, Indian Cuckoo, Drongos & this Flameback. Even sighted a Neelgai. All in a Morning Walk..

We were busy trying to capture a Treepie & suddenly saw a burst of colors & soon realized it was a Flameback. It was perched far & appeared really tiny in the frame. Would have tried for almost half an hour to get close, but without success. Bird would disappear in foliage.

Disappointed, decided to move out of this place. But, as soon as moved out of place, got a glimpse of same bird perched openly & bathing in morning sunlight on large mango trunk. Got just enough time to have a clear shot before it moved behind the trunk, pecking the tree, finding food. Other shots got blurred due to lower shutter speed. Camera was pushed to highest ISO under given light situation.

It was fun & excitement getting this single frame..

Hope you like & enjoy it..

EXIF : Canon 550D, Tamron 100-400mm, FL 400mm, f/11, Tv: 1/200, ISO :3200, Full Frame, PP in LR 5.7

Regards/ Anil Kumar Verma

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice sighting. Colours have come out well. Did you visit Rajaji ? Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

The ray of light on it looks good. I think it just moved when you clicked, but its good you got a shot. I am still waiting to get a decent photograph of this bird :(. I feel a wider aperture like f7.1 or f8 would have sufficed here, which would have helped to get a higher ISO.

Good to know there are lot of birds and mammals (Nilgai, there might be foxes and jackals also) in the open spaces in Haridwar. Winter is good time for birding. Look forward to see more. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

These birds move fast. So one needs to aim, acquire focus and click fast. Good that you got it without any intervening branch. Wish you had a lower angle. Thanks for sharing.

[Anil Kumar Verma]

Thanks Saktipada Da, Sabyasachi Da & Mrudul..

Rajaji Park main tracks weren't open at the time of my visit. However, could visit Jhilmil Jheel track with family . It was good with sighting of Chital ( many small groups), Barasingha (Swamp Deer- far off) & many birds including a close encounter with Oriental Pied Hornbill. Would share some of pictures in due course..

Experiencing challenges of shooting birds & picking up the threads now. Also, I was using VC2 mode meant for panning shots & this might have to do something with shake. Realized it recently & corrected to VC1 now, meant for normal shots. Hopefully results are improved going forward.

Thanks for your valuable insightful comments..

Regards/ Anil Kumar Verma

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Nice image of the woodpecker, Vermaji. Its tricky to photograph birds especially if they are hopping branches between low light to good light, I suppose your ISO was set to 3200 to capture this bird in the shade and voila it jumps into a patch of sunlight resulting is slight over exposure of whites. But that's also the beauty of bird photography, I have better memories of pictures slightly shaken or overexposed as they remind me of the experience more than the image. Thanks for sharing.