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Wire-crested Thorntail

AGeoJO
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Wire-crested Thorntail

My birding activities are basically on hold for the time being since I am nursing a rotator cuff injury. But that gives me some time to go over images that were taken in the past, like this set from Ecuador in 2022.

The location is not a feeding station but at an area of lush purple flower shrubs. These small hummingbirds are fast and move around quite a bit and the bushy surrounding makes it not easy to get clear shots. When agitated, for example in the presence of a competitor, the males raise their face feathers and at a certain angle, the feathers turn bright and intense green.

The depth-of-field wasn’t enough to get both of them in focus shown in #5. So, I shifted to focus point from one to the other and focus-stacked them afterwards in PP. After that, they both hovered away, facing each other for a while as depicted in #5, which is not focus-stacked.

Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to leave any feedback,
Joshua

Edit - I messed up during the initial upload and somehow the first image is not depicted as a thumbnail. So, I removed the first image but I couldn’t reload it in the original sequence. So, I uploaded #1 as the last one in the thread. Sorry….

#2 - Perched but still pretty…

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/80s 320 ISO 0.0 EV

#3 - Another perched pose

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 2500 ISO 0.0 EV

#4 - Green from “envy” 😜

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 1600 ISO 0.0 EV

#5 - The face off

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 4000 ISO 0.0 EV

#6 - The face off II

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 3200 ISO 0.0 EV

#7 - Ah, and here is a female

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 2500 ISO 0.0 EV

#8 - On the top of the world

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/125s 320 ISO 0.0 EV

#9 - Saving some energy this way

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 2000 ISO 0.0 EV

#1 - Very rare unobstructed view during take off

ILCE-1 FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter lens 840mm f/5.6 1/1000s 2500 ISO 0.0 EV

Edited on Jul 24, 2023 at 04:11 PM · View previous versions

Jul 22, 2023 at 12:26 PM

Ronny Olsson
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Fantastic set my friend !

Ronny

Jul 22, 2023 at 01:20 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Ronny Olsson wrote:
Fantastic set my friend !

Ronny

Thank you very much for your kind words, Ronny!

Jul 22, 2023 at 04:41 PM

G.E. Smith
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Joshua - What a beautiful hummingbird. Fantastic set !

Greg

Jul 22, 2023 at 06:54 PM

dj_hess
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Wire-crested Thorntail

These are great Joshua. I really. like #6 and #8. While the colors are nicer on #5 compared to #6, I like the outstretched feet on #6. Hopefully the rotator cuff heals soon.

Dave

Jul 22, 2023 at 07:11 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Wire-crested Thorntail

G.E. Smith wrote:
Joshua - What a beautiful hummingbird. Fantastic set !

Greg

Greg, thank you for stopping by and for your kind words!

dj_hess wrote:
These are great Joshua. I really. like #6 and #8. While the colors are nicer on #5 compared to #6, I like the outstretched feet on #6. Hopefully the rotator cuff heals soon.

Dave

Thank you very much for your kind compliment, Dave!

Thank you, again, and yes, it will take several weeks, requiring diligent exercises and stretches. Thankfully, the pain is decreasing.

Jul 22, 2023 at 07:27 PM

George Welch
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Delightful series Joshua - very enjoyable.

As a recently retired plumber of over 30+ years, I was fortunate not to require surgery but have had multiple steroid treatments so feel your pain, so to speak. 😉

I hope you recover quickly - and listen to your therapist!

Cheers,

George

Jul 22, 2023 at 07:40 PM

dclark
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Wire-crested Thorntail

It's not good that you are injured, but it is good that you finally processed these images.
They're beautiful!
I like the perched shots in the natural setting, #2,3,9.
Catching two in flight and in focus is a good trick.

Dave

Jul 22, 2023 at 10:43 PM

johnohio
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Stunning shots ! Beautiful subject, beautiful work !

John

Jul 22, 2023 at 11:20 PM

csinseattle
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Joshua,

Beautiful set and nicely done as always. The care of that rotator cuff and get well soon.

Chris S.

Jul 23, 2023 at 12:28 AM

Erictator
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Wire-crested Thorntail

The face off images are special, as well as the take off.

Hang in there and follow docs orders, anything else just drags it out. Best wishes,
Eric

Jul 23, 2023 at 08:11 AM

shamere_y
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Such beautiful birds. So sorry to hear about the rotator cuff injury! My spouse has dealt with the same thing in the past.

Jul 23, 2023 at 08:40 AM

osidesurfer
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.

Kevin

Jul 23, 2023 at 11:34 AM

wonderer
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Gorgeous set, Joshua!

What an intriguing bird, so beautifully photographed in a variety of poses.

Your clever treatment of the two birds together came out really well--doubly good!

Thanks for sharing these--a beautiful bird species I don't remember seeing here before.

Kim

Jul 23, 2023 at 11:39 AM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Wire-crested Thorntail

George Welch wrote:
Delightful series Joshua - very enjoyable.

As a recently retired plumber of over 30+ years, I was fortunate not to require surgery but have had multiple steroid treatments so feel your pain, so to speak. 😉

I hope you recover quickly - and listen to your therapist!

Cheers,

George

Thank you very much, George! And yes, not surgery for me, too and I am doing my physical therapy diligently. Just the progress seems to be slow...

dclark wrote:
It's not good that you are injured, but it is good that you finally processed these images.
They're beautiful!
I like the perched shots in the natural setting, #2,3,9.
Catching two in flight and in focus is a good trick.

Dave

Thank you very much for your kind words, Dave! Yes, it is some kind of a double edge sword.

johnohio wrote:
Stunning shots ! Beautiful subject, beautiful work !

John

Thank you very much for your kind compliment, John!

Jul 23, 2023 at 02:01 PM

morris
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Wire-crested Thorntail

Ouch! Get well soon Joshua.

Why have you been holding these back? They are super. The two in the frame together are over the top

Morris

Jul 23, 2023 at 05:42 PM

ksmmike
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Wire-crested Thorntail

beautiful work
Mike

Jul 23, 2023 at 06:52 PM

volhoosier
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Wire-crested Thorntail

what a superb set of photos. hummingbirds can have the most fascinating colors that appear irridescent at time. sorry to hear about your rotator cuff injury. as a retired nurse, i caution you not to rush your recovery. let it heal fully before returning back to normal activity. many people get inpatient, start doing things before the shoulder is ready, and they wind up with a more serious injury than they originally had. as has already been said, your downtime did give you time to share these pictures with others. thanks for sharing.

Jul 23, 2023 at 08:31 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Wire-crested Thorntail

csinseattle wrote:
Joshua,

Beautiful set and nicely done as always. The care of that rotator cuff and get well soon.

Chris S.

Thank you very much 2X, Chris S!

Erictator wrote:
The face off images are special, as well as the take off.

Hang in there and follow docs orders, anything else just drags it out. Best wishes,
Eric

Thank you very much, Eric! Yes, I agree whole-heartedly and thanks, again!

shamere_y wrote:
Such beautiful birds. So sorry to hear about the rotator cuff injury! My spouse has dealt with the same thing in the past.

Thank you very much for stopping by and for your kind words, shamere_y!

Jul 23, 2023 at 11:29 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Wire-crested Thorntail

osidesurfer wrote:
Beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.

Kevin

Thank you very much, Kevin!

wonderer wrote:
Gorgeous set, Joshua!

What an intriguing bird, so beautifully photographed in a variety of poses.

Your clever treatment of the two birds together came out really well--doubly good!

Thanks for sharing these--a beautiful bird species I don't remember seeing here before.

Kim

Thank you very much for your kind words, Kim! I am glad you like the images.

morris wrote:
Ouch! Get well soon Joshua.

Why have you been holding these back? They are super. The two in the frame together are over the top

Morris

Thank you very much, Morris! Well, I take a lot of images from various travels. I processed a few but didn’t have the urge to process enough to be worth posting. Thank you also for the best wish!

Jul 24, 2023 at 04:03 PM

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