Rufous-breasted Accentor

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Rufous-breasted Accentor Prunella strophiata; or for those who have followed Salim Ali's works, 'Rufous-breasted Hedge Sparrow'. The latter name is very apt for these sparrow-like birds that keep to hedges, shrubs and bushes, very rarely flying high above the ground. This is one of the relatively shy species of accentors found in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, extending into the cold regions of Central Asia.

Lachen, North Sikkim | March 2017

Canon 760D, Canon 100-400mm IS USM
SS 1/800
Av 5.6
ISO 3200
Very minor crop
Shot hand-held in rain (hence the high ISO). About 50-60m uphill from me, it was snowing.

Thanks, C&C welcome.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice to see this. I guess due to the vegetation the eye has not come out clear. Look forward to more. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Thanks Sabyasachi. I don't think I correctly understood your comment about the eye - I'm quite happy with the eye contact here, considering there is even a catchlight, which I was not hopeful about. Do you mean to say the light is low? That is true, as it was raining at the time. (There is no vegetation in the way of the eye).

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I meant to say that the eye portion is not sharp and doesn't have much of details. I could see blurred vegetation on all sides. So I was thinking that this lack of sharpness is due to shooting through the vegetation.

[Subhash Shrivastava]

Thanks for bringing the images from Himalayas. Nice & lucky that you got a reasonably good image through the vegetation. The catch-light looks good.

[Samrat Sarkar]

Dear Abhishek

How was your trip! a common accentor of high hill.. thanks for sharing...

Samrat