Some of my favourite images, including this beautiful juvenile Grey Fantail are currently displayed at a beaut cafe in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Juvenile Fantail – Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 1600
Adult Grey Fantails lose the warm rufous colouring that I adore in this young bird. I can still hardly believe that I was able to capture an image like this. There are so many times when a bird lands on an ugly perch, or when the background is distracting or when the exposure isn’t perfect, or the focus is off – there are so many things that can and do go wrong when photographing birds. It makes it extra special when everything lines up so beautifully. I was rapt to get the bird’s tail when it was fanned so widely, a fraction of a second later and I would have missed it. And the sprinkles, on the cream, on the cake came when the fantail made eye contact without being entirely sure what was lurking beneath the camouflaged cloth.
Grey Fantails are tiny aerobatic acrobats that are about 15cm long, with much of that being their tails, and they weigh about 9g.
The online version of this image is 400kb while the file I used for printing is 62Mb. over 100 times larger – the printed detail is exquisite.
If you live within a cooee of Ferntree Gully, or if you’re looking for a special gift (or an excellent lunch) you might like to visit the Chosen Bean Cafe at Mountain Gate, 11a Ferntree Gully Road. The displayed images are matted, framed and printed using quality pigment inks on 100% cotton rag, fine art archival paper.
Happy birding
Kim
PS A range of images will be displayed until the end of January
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