ML620094707

Age and sex

Adult Male - 1

Tags

Habitat

Media notes

It's favorite perch - takes stopover here while coming to and going from the nest, almost every time. Not a clear view, but shows the nesting habitat.

Observation details

1. We could see the activity of these birds from far, at the grasses beside the road, adjacent to a shallow stream of water. On close inspection we could see at least 5 nests in the patches of medium-sized grass, within 1 meter from the ground. 2. The females looked bit more wary of us and stayed far. The males were collecting carrying nesting materials, carrying & sewing to the nests. Sometimes they were perching at grass stalks near the nests and vocalizing while looking around. We decided to stand near the nesting are ~8 meters away from the closest nest. 3. The males were very 'friendly'. They didn't seem to bother, and kept on doing their job. I took some photos while it was sewing the strips into the nest. But some of the stalks were obstructing the view making the photos cluttered 🙁. I left to look for other positions nearby. No luck, I returned to that spot and hoped for a gentle breeze that would move away the obstruction for a clear shot. 4. I stood at that place motionless and minimized talking loudly. ~20 minutes later, not the wind, but luck came with a glimmer of hope. This particular bird became courageous and perched at the edge of a grass patch within 6 meter - perfect distance for feather details and clean background! Alas, it was momentary and the bird moved elsewhere before I could capture it in camera. 5. Bit hopeful, I decided to spend more time. Had my banana and kept on watching theses birds. At last, it came again to the same spot ~5.5 meter away. After over an hour, and more than 30 minutes staying glued to the spot, the bird became so comfortable! It stayed perched, exchanging its front and back towards me, and started singing 🎉. I could take as many shots as needed, also a ~30 sec video while it vocalized (will be uploaded later).

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R8

Lens

RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM + EXTENDER RF1.4x

Focal length

700 mm

f-stop

f/10.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

6000 pixels x 3999 pixels

Original file size

2.93 MB