Striking Head Shots IV

Canon EOS 40D, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, Aperture Priority @ f/5.6 (1/25 sec), 0 EV, ISO 800, Handheld, JPEG from RAW, Cropped about 35% from Full Frame

Subject: Vulturine Guineafowl

Here's the final image in my current 4-part mini-series of striking head shots.

This is one of the very few photos I took of birds with my first Canon DSLR back in 2008 that I decided to keep; most others I took from back then pale in comparison to the pictures I've been able to capture in the past nine months so I deleted most of the old ones.

Knowing that my skill with a camera back in 2008 was very limited, combined with the fact that I didn't have a tripod (so I know this was handheld), makes me appreciate that this was one lucky shot when looking at the metadata and seeing that the shutter speed was only 1/25!

The Vulturine Guineafowl is native to northeast Africa, found from southern Ethiopia, through Kenya, and the northern part of Tanzania. Somehow this one found it's way to Thailand and my local avery. No idea what happened to it since 2008, but it's no longer there, which is a shame, as I really wanted to go back and capture more photos showing it's full body as well, which has an impressive array of feathers, some of which are a beautiful tone of blue.

As I recall at the time I took this one, I just wasn't able to to capture a single image including the body where the plumage didn't come out pretty much blurred although the head seemed to come out OK more often than not. I was so taken with the shocking red eye that I was determined to get at least a good shot of that, so I got down on the ground, laying on my back, and shot right up at it, hence the unusual perspective.

While this species may not end up winning all that many beauty contests and I may never sell a print of this image, I still find it very appealing ;^)

Critique and comments always welcome :^)