common iora

Common Iora
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Common Iora

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Aegithinidae
Genus: Aegithina
Species: A. tiphia
Binomial name
Aegithina tiphia
(Linnaeus, 1758)
The Common Iora, Aegithina tiphia, is a small passerine bird. This Iora breeds across tropical South Asia from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka into Indonesia. This common species is found in forest and other well-wooded areas. Two to four greenish white eggs are laid in a small, loose, cup-shaped nest made out of grass and built in a tree.


A. t. multicolor- Male in Hyderabad, India.
During the breeding season, the male performs an acrobatic courtship display, darting up into the air fluffing up all his feathers, especially those on the pale green rump, then spiralling down to the original perch. Once he lands, he spreads his tail and droops his wings.
The adult Common Iora is about 25cm long. The breeding male has black or greenish upperparts, and bright yellow underparts. The flight feathers are blackish with an obvious white wing bar. Non-breeding males have uniformly greenish upperparts. The females are similar to non-breeding males, but with grey-black wings.

There is a good deal of racial variation in the breeding males. A. t. multicolor of Sri Lanka and southern India has a black crown and back, A. t. tiphia of the Himalayas has the upperparts entirely green, and A. t. humei of peninsular India has a black crown with its back a mixture of black and green. Care must be taken in separating from the White-tailed Iora whose range overlaps in India.
The call is a mixture of churrs, chattering and whistles, and the song is a trilled wheeeee-tee. The Common Iora eats insects and spiders.

Hi Aditya,
That is a nice image. Thanks for the info included. You can sharpen it a tad bit more. The Y branches frame it well.
Thanks for Sharing...
Do include the EXIF too...

Nice one. Maybe you could clone out the out of focus things...?
One strange thing... I've seen common ioras mostly in the subcontinent and south India range, yet never come across this black crowned race...Where did you get this one?

Lovely bird. Nice composition. I would have liked a bit more space on the top than at the bottom. The perch is nice. The open beak is a big plus.

Thanks for the detailed information. Keep posting..

File: COMMON IORA(2).jpg
Date: 2009/07/19 18:04:11.9
Image Size: 2550 x 1950
Image Comment: PHOTOGRAPH BY ADITYA ROY
Camera: Nikon D40
Focal Length: 300mm
Aperture: F/10
Shutter Speed: 1/640s
Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering Mode: Center-Weighted

Aditya,
I agree with the composition. As Bibhav has said, the Y shaped branches frame the bird nicely.

I don't find the ISO, aperture, shutter speed details. This is required to fine tune our critiques and will help you in improving further.

The overall image is a bit dark. The blacks in the head are blocked ie. the black in a few places have completely lost details.

I used lightroom software to process this. I increased the exposure by one third stop. Increased the contrast. Pulled up the shadows a bit. Increased the clarity as well.

The thick black border often misleads our eye. And you won't realise that the overall image is dark. So it is better to upload images without borders for critiquing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Very nice! The report works well. Kazmierczak lists the subspecies, A. tiphia multicolor.

Apana