Vigor's Sunbird

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Another backyard visitor at my place in Goa.

Photographed in light rain. Although overcast conditions are always a challenge in terms of good shutterspeeds, they work like a blessing when you don't have the flexibility of positioning yourself for the best light. With decent high-ISO performance even from entry-level cameras these days, there are many situations where I actually prefer smooth (so-called 'poor' ) lighting of this kind. In direct sunlight, even at a good angle, this same scene from my balcony will produce a really harsh dappled background.

Vigor's sunbird is the only one of the Aethopyga sunbirds found as far as the Western Ghats, and was split some years ago from the Crimson Sunbird (which is now the Eastern/Himalayan sister species).

Canon 760D, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM
SS 1/250
Av 5.6
ISO 1600
Hand-held
Moderate crop