Oriental Magpie Robin

An Oriental Magpie Robin photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Oriental Magpie Robin is a common garden bird found in Sri Lanka. It is also one of the most musical birds found on the island. The Oriental Magpie Robin is distributed throughout a number of areas in tropical South and Southeast Asia. The images in this post were all captured in our garden in Colombo, where this species is a regular visitor.  Read on for more images and info.

An Oriental Magpie Robin photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Oriental Magpie Robins breed from March to July in India and January to June in Southeast Asia. They nest in tree hollows or niches in walls and buildings. Most of the nest building is done by the female and usually starts a week or so before the eggs are laid. 

An Oriental Magpie Robin photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

These birds mainly feed on insects and other invertebrates. Globally, this species is considered one of "little concern". However, in some areas, this bird is on the decline. These birds were common in Hong Kong and Singapore in the 1920's but numbers declined in the 1970's. It is presumed that this was caused because of the competition of the introduced Common Mynahs. 

These images were captured with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens.

Fresh Tomatoes

Fresh Tomatoes

I was bored last afternoon and decided to experiment with some hi-key shots. I used the tomatoes as I felt the vibrant red would really stand out against a white background. In order to add another layer of interest to the photographed, I dripped water on tomatoes with the hope of getting a different reflection of the light. Read on to find out more on how I lit this image.

I used two foam core boards as part of my lighting setup for this image. One was used as the background and I placed the tomatoes on a piece of glass which was resting on the second. The glass was used to create shadows of the tomatoes (again, to add another layer of interest). The shadows are subtle as I zoomed in very close to the subject. They would have been more pronounced if I had zoomed out a bit more and more f the glass was included in the frame.

Lighting the images was pretty straight forward. I used one flash which I fired at a piece of white A4 paper on the right side of the camera, close to the lens. The flash was pointing towards the camera and set to fire at 1/64th. I used the piece of paper to soften the light and to bounce it onto the foam core board placed behind the subject.

The Coat Hanger

The Sydney Harbour Bridge (also known as the coat hanger), Australia

I went to the Opera House on Sunday evening hoping to capture a completely different image but came away with this one instead. No complaints. For those of you who are not familiar with Sydney, Sydney-siders often refer to the Harbour Bridge as the "coat hanger", for obvious reasons. It's not too easy to take photographs around the Opera House as it is always full of people and inevitably someone walks into your frame. The area around the Opera House doesn't quieten down till the early hours of the morning as there are a number of bars and restaurants in the area. The marquees in the foreground of this image are actually from the Opera Bar. Read on for more info on how the shot was taken.

The final image was actually created by stitching together 6 separate images. I used the tripod and the same aperture, shutter speed and ISO (I shot this on manual mode) for all the shots. When capturing these images I made sure that I had at least a 20% overlap.  This makes the stitching process a whole lot easier as there are more control points available.

I am not too happy with the top of the marquee which can be seen on the bottom right hand corner. There was a lamp just above it ,which lit up that section of the image a bit too much for my liking. However, I do like the light reflected in the water and the different shades of blue in the sky, created by the setting sun. These images were captured at around six in the evening just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

I used the Canon 7D and the 24 - 105mm lens.

Bathing Purple Rumped Sunbirds

A Bathing Purple rumped Sunbird photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

It was early evening and our garden, at home in Colombo, had just been watered. I walked out of the house and found this drenched female Purple rumped Sunbird sitting on a large leaf. I was curious as to how it had got soaked and was trying to figure it out when it started rubbing itself on the wet leaf. More images and info inside.

A Bathing Purple rumped Sunbird photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

While I watched, the bird proceeded to wash its self by using its wings to flick water off the leaf. The whole "shower" took around 5 minutes and  the bird was not at all bothered by my presence. It was soon joined by a second Purple rumped Sunbird which did the exact same thing.

A Bathing Purple rumped Sunbird photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

I have a number of shots of the birds flicking water around but they were not very sharp. The birds movements were very quick and there wasn't sufficient light to use a faster shutter speed. If I remember correctly, the shutter speed for these shots were around 1/320 to 1/400. which in itself was quite fast.

A Bathing Purple rumped Sunbird photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

These images were captured with the 7D and the 100-400mm lens. I think the focal length was 400mm and the aperture was set to f5.6.

A Bathing Purple rumped Sunbird photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

More images of the Purple rumped Sunbird can be found here.

Dancing Dropwing

A Dancing Dropwing photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Dancing Dropwing is an uncommon dragonfly found in Sri Lanka. I came across a number of them in Anuradhapura. They differ from their more common relatives as they are slightly bigger in size. Their black and yellow coloration, long spidery legs and bicoloured pterostigma can be used to identify this species. More info after the jump.

A Dancing Dropwing photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The female of this species has tinted wings and yellow anal appendages. it's abdomen is also shorter and thicker than that of the male. The abdomen area is around 26 - 32mm in length and the wing span is also around 30-36mm in length. They can usually be found on the banks of tanks (man made lakes), ponds, paddy fields and slow flowing streams. Their range covers areas of both the dry and wet zones.

A Dancing Dropwing photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

I was photographing Asian Groundlings in an abandoned paddy field on the banks of Tissa wewa (sinhalese word for a man made lake) when I saw a couple of Dancing Dropwings among them. I miss took them for the more common Green Skimmer and only captured a few images of the species. I was surprised as I was able to get within about a meter of them to capture these images. As usual I was unable to get closer to them because of the minimum focusing distance of the 100-400mm lens. I think I see a new macro lens on the horizon.

These images were captured using a Canon 7D and a 100-400mm lens.

A Dancing Dropwing photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Another post on the Green Skimmer can be found here.

* I initially made a mistake and identified this species as a Green Skimmer.Thanks to Amila Salgado for the the correction.

Lemon Pansy

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Lemon Pansy is a common butterfly found throughout southern Asia. It is the most common of the six pansies found in India. The Lemon Pansy is known to be territorial and aggressive. I came across a number of these butterflies in Anuradhapura and found them quite easy to photograph. Their flight is strong and consist of strong wingbeats with less fluttering.  However, they do spend a fair bit of time perched on shrubs and flowers. More info and images inside.

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Like the Chocolate Soldier,  the Lemon Pansy rests on or close to the ground with it's wings spread. It settles in wet patches on the ground more frequently than other Pansies. When I was photographing these butterflies they were feeding or basking in the warm early morning sunlight. They are a small to medium sized butterfly with prominent "eyespots" on the upper sides of both wings.

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Male Lemon Pansies are known to perch at strategic locations with the aim of intercepting females and inspecting potential mates. It is quite well camouflaged when it sits still with its wings held above its abdomen. The male is known to move into new locations if their current locations are unsuitable.

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

This butterfly loves to feed on Nectar and can frequently be seen settling on shrubs and other small plant's to feed.  During this time it displays the upper sides of its wings. In the evenings they move into thickets and settle on a tall grass stems with their wings folded above their abdomen, to spend the night. It is known to have a typical posture, which it takes when it spreads its wings. As a result a lot of the photographs taken of this species look similar. 

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

I photographed these butterflies in an overgrown plot of land in Anuradhapura. There were a number of large bushes with flowers in bloom and these butterflies were feeding on them. They didn't seem to be too bothered with my presence and I was able to get quite close to photograph them. I had the 100-400mm lens on the 7D and was able to get some frame filling images.

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

A Lemon Pansy photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Sydney Opera House and CBD

The Sydney Opera House and CBD

I hadn't been out with the camera for a while and since I had some free time on Sunday, I headed down to Milsons Point, on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. I timed my trip to get down there at around sunset as I wanted to have a bit of time to set up before the colour of the sky changed to that special shade of blue. Unfortunately the weather in Sydney hasn't been good and the sky was cloudy. Not a real surprise considering it is the middle of winter!

More info after the jump.

I set up the tripod on the wharf and started capturing the photographs which I needed to create the panorama above. The wind was not too strong but I found that the Tripod was shaking and, as a result, the images were not too sharp. In order to get around this, I had to stand next to the camera and block the wind. Thankfully it was a quick fix and seemed to resolve the problem. I zoomed in on the back of the camera a number of times to make sure the images were tack sharp.

I captured seven images to use for the panorama above. Once I got home all I had to do was process them using the identical settings and stitch them up to produce the final image. The panorama has to be viewed large to see the detail in the buildings. The version I've uploaded here is quite a small version of the final image.

The most frustrating part of this process was trying to capture images which didn't include any boats.  This was almost impossible considering Circular Quay is just to the right of the Opera House. Circular Quay is the hub of Sydney's ferry system and as a result, has ferries coming in and out throughout the day.

Other images of the opera house

• Opera House and Harbour Bridge at Dusk
• Opera House at twilight

Cattle Egret

A Cattle Egret photographed in Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

The Cattle Egret, is widespreadspecies belonging to the Heron family.  It is found throughout most of the tropics, sub tropics and warmer temperate regions of the world. This is the smallest of the Egrets found in Sri Lanka and is common in the lowlands and the mid hills of Sri Lanka. I saw these birds throughout the dry zone when travelling to Anuradhapura and Trincomalee. These birds can also be seen in and around Colombo.

The Cattle Egret can be differentiated from other Egrets by its size, its stocky build and its rounded head. It also has black legs and feet. It also has a shorter and broader-based yellow beak when compared to other Egrets. During the breeding season its bill may become darker and its mantle turns a golden-buff. 

A Cattle Egret photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Cattle Egret breeds in colonies in trees which are often, but not always close to large lakes with reed beds or other large wetland areas. They are often seen around the tanks and paddy fields in Sri Lanka. The Cattle Egret is generally considered to be a successful species with an expanding range. Its range was originally limited to Asia, Africa and Europe but it has now colonised much much of the rest of the world. 

A Cattle Egret photographed in Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

It feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, mainly feeding on frogs, fish, crickets and, in some cases moths and spiders. It hunts by spearing its prey with its sharp long beak. It stays still and allows its prey to come within striking distance. It is often thought that these birds feed on parasites of buffaloes as they are often found in close proximity of each other. In actual fact the Great Egrets feed on grasshoppers and other insects which are disturbed when buffaloes move around. They are also known to follow farm machinery for the same reason but are forced to move more frequently.

A Cattle Egret photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

These images were captured in Anuradhapura and Battaramulla. I used a Canon 7D and a 100-400mm lens for all them. 

* I had made a mistake earlier and identified this bird as a Great Egret. Thanks to Amila Salgado for pointing it out.