Booted Rackettail

Gallery: AvianPosted June 18, 2013344 views20 comments

Another photo from our Ecuador trip last year. This little species is one of the tougher hummingbirds. While wasps and bees will often scare birds away, this species will actively chase them off. Michelle Plank emailed me and told me this was a wasp. The fanned tail shown here is a sort of aggression display, the bird is trying to make itself look bigger than it actually is. Image was taken on a multi-flash setup with 6 slave flashes and an artificial background.

5D3 300F4 1/200 F22, iso 400, 580ex, 6 Nikon SB-26's at 1/32 power which are automatically fired by any other flash.

Comments

20 comments

Comment posted by May Haga on June 18, 2013 at 8:55 PM

Love the tail spread and the fact that the hummer is facing you. Great capture.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on June 18, 2013 at 9:31 PM

Very good detail, colors and sharpness. I do like this pose as well as the BG, Thanks for sharing.,

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on June 18, 2013 at 10:10 PM

I can only echo May's comments here

, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on June 18, 2013 at 10:21 PM

Great tail display, Nate. As long as you're doing all that setup, may I suggest a diffuser in front of the flower to minimize the glare? Neat to see the subject of the hummer's aggression sticking out from behind the blossom.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on June 18, 2013 at 10:28 PM

I am speechless!

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on June 18, 2013 at 11:41 PM

Nice. Nate. I got to watch Glenn Bartley do this at Tandayapa and appreciate the effort that's required.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on June 19, 2013 at 12:49 AM

I can't say I've ever seen this kind of tail spread from these guys. Really fascinating behavior to capture. Excellent work (again), Nate.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on June 19, 2013 at 1:50 AM

Thanks for sharing a wonderful image.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on June 19, 2013 at 3:27 AM

As soon as I opened the page and saw the thumbnail I thought, that's one of Nate's. Is that a good or a bad thing?

Another wonderful hummingbird capture. Thanks for the narrative too, I would have had no idea otherwise. Seeing the tail feathers spread like that made me think that the bird was trying to balance and hold himself in position.
I do agree that it might be worth toning down the glare on the blossom a bit but an outstanding image none the less.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Claude Dagenais on June 19, 2013 at 6:47 AM

An amazing, well planned capture.

Registered on April 10, 2013, 56 Posts, 571 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on June 19, 2013 at 12:37 PM

Great look at the tail of these sweet hummers. Very tough to catch a display like this, and also tough to get the set-up just right.
Sandy.

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on June 19, 2013 at 12:39 PM

Hello Nate

Another SWEET image!(pun intended). Great display with the fanned Tail!:)

You seem to get very many Species in this Trip ?

Clean bckgrnd, Sharp Image, Great Capture... Well Done... Again..

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on June 19, 2013 at 1:07 PM

Thanks for your comments everyone! I'll spend some more time trying to tone down the flower.

Bill, yes we get a lot of species on this trip. Over 1,500 species of birds are possible in Ecuador, which is amazing considering it's only half the size of Texas. The only countries with more bird species are Brazil, Peru and Colombia but each of them is at least 4 times as large as Ecuador.

Thanks to Michelle Plank for identifying the insect as a wasp, not a bee.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 19, 2013 at 2:09 PM

Very difficult to do, I'm sure, with excellent results. I agree with Dennis on the diffuser.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Andy Shepherd on June 19, 2013 at 2:11 PM

Excellent image, can't fault it. Superbly photographed, Nate

Andy...

Registered on September 24, 2006, 123 Posts, 1254 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on June 19, 2013 at 7:00 PM

Exceptional capture Nate, congrats of such a beautiful image!

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on June 19, 2013 at 7:24 PM

Killer Shot Nate

Great wing position and perfectly displayed tail.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on June 20, 2013 at 9:33 AM

WOW. What an amazing shot!

Registered on March 6, 2011, 95 Posts, 847 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 23, 2013 at 6:03 PM

Another beautiful form, love those boots man

Nicely done Nate!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Derrick Lipinski on July 19, 2013 at 2:38 PM

Fantastic capture, Nate!

Registered on October 5, 2007, 58 Posts, 2039 Comments