Stork Billed Kingfisher

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

A very attentive Stork Billed Kingfisher, looking out for fish stranded in the receeding waters at the reef at Beach No. 2, havelock Islands, Andaman Archipelago.

EOS 50D + 300f4 L IS + 1.4x II at f 8.0 1/400, ISO 200

Minimal tweaking on Lightroom 3 Beta ( Thanx Sabhyasachi Da)

Looking forward to C & C

Mods please delete the other post.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Wow! this is excellent stuff, lovely colors and light. The image is sharp and has all the qualities of the great photographer. Perfect picture for an award.
TFS

[Bibhav Behera]

Beautiful colours and light. The catchlight in the eye is nice. The perch looks good too. Would have been nice if you would have avioded the out of focus branch at the lower left corner. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Dipankar,

Congratulations! Fine image. Lovely colours. The curved branch frames the kingfisher nicely. A slight head turn towards you would have enhanced the eye contact. The out of focus branch, as already pointed out, can be cropped.

I think this is your best image till date.

Details from Salim Ali:
Scientific Name: Pelargopsis capensis
Sexes alike.
Distribution: Practically the entire Indian Union (excepting Rajasthan and the adjoining arid portions); Bangladesh; Srilanka; Myanmar.
Habits: Affects well-watered country, and except in Bengal and Assam where it is commonly seen on telegraph wires along the railway , keeps to shady forest streams, jungle pools, and swampy glades. Also mangrove and Pandanus-lined creeks. Sits on branches overhanging water, hidden by foliage. Seen chiefly when courisng up and down forest streams. Its method of hunting resembles that of the Small Blue Kingfisher, but it does not hover and plunge from the air.
Call: A raucous, explosive chattering 'laugh' ke-ke-ke-ke-ke (accent on first ki). Also utters a pleasant soliloquy peer-peer-pur when resting contentedly on some shady branch.
Food: Fish, crabs, reptiles, frogs, and occasionally also young birds and eggs from nests.
Nesting: Season - January to July.
Nest: - the typical horizontal tunnel of kingfishers, excavated in a steep outscoured bank of a forest stream.
Eggs: 4 or 5, white, glossy, roundish ovals.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Beautiful photograph. Lovely colours, composition and sharpness. Agree with the above comments.

Looking forward to some more photographs from Andaman.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Fantastic shot, lovely colours and light. The glint in the eye looks lovely.

[Sagar Patil]

Classic.

Look at the scaly structure on the throat. Lovely bird.
This gives tough competition to his family friend Orient Dwarf KF in beauty.

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

Thanks all for comments. Yes I shall clone out the branch at the bottom, it was not possible to crop it out.

This particular individual was perched atop a casurina tree intently watching the shallow waters for Fish. I kept hoping to catch it diving for the fish or with fish in its beak as the light falling on the bird and the background was perfect. But i guess it was not too intent on food and after about 45 minutes, my arms started complaining with holding aloft the camera and the lens.The moment i turned around, I heard a splash and saw the kingfisher flying away with a fish....!!!! I guess it was playing with me.

[Usha Harikrishnan]

Wow..Very nicely taken...