This little male Yellow (or Mangrove) warbler visited me as I ate pancakes for breakfast at El Chocolate and looked out at the fish-cleaning station where pelicans, lava gulls, a blue-footed booby and a sea lion all lurked hoping for morsels. Although remarkably unafraid, some of the birds, particularly the small, energetic types like this one, can be difficult to photograph — always on the move, always moving just at the point at which one presses the shutter release. Perhaps he took pity on me this time, or maybe he's just a poser.
[8 September 2011 (Ecuador), Panasonic Lumix GH1, 100–300 mm at 214 mm, ISO 400, 1/800 at f5.1]
All content © 2011 Pete McGregor
What a charming chap - I'm glad he's a poser (or a pan-cake fancier). Take away the colour and he's an English robin.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt a fellow international traveler.
ReplyDeleteThat really is such a great shot. Warblers hardly ever sit still. How lucky that you crossed paths with the calm one!
ReplyDeleteYour eye is as stunning, I think, as I imagine this warbler's song to be. Love the so-soft blue background as the perfect complement to the yellow. The warbler's eye is pretty cool, too!
ReplyDeleteRR, yes, although these little warblers are much more active than robins, and usually much more difficult to photograph because of their fondness for foraging in foliage.
ReplyDeleteZhoen, I don't know whether or how far they migrate, but I'd be impressed if something this size migrated to and from the Galápagos. Still, it doesn't pay to underestimate birds.
Robin, you clearly know warblers! Our warbler in New Zealand, the riroriro or grey warbler, is one of the most difficult of our birds to photograph. I have many failed attempts ;^)
Thank you, Barbara :^) Backgrounds aren't always possible to arrange satisfactorily, but they can make a dramatic difference to a photograph.
Perfection, I'd say. (and I did!)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lydia!
ReplyDelete