Andean Cock-of-the-rock

Gallery: AvianPosted February 3, 2015171 views11 comments

A visit to Angel Paz's Refugio Paz de las Aves in pre-dawn light offered an incredible opportunity to witness several Cocks displaying. The light when these guys first showed up was very poor, but as the morning grew it improved quite a bit but still required a fairly high ISO to get a decent shot.

This guy emerged center stage and put on quite a show.

Mindo, Ecuador

D3s
500mm f/4
1/160s @ f4
ISO 3200
0 EV
Matrix
Gitzo w/ WimberleyII

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on February 3, 2015 at 11:19 AM

What a cool looking bird. Incredible colors on these guys. I like the pose and the habitat. The only change I'd suggest is to remove or tone down the reflective leaf in the upper left.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Lucy VanSwearingen on February 3, 2015 at 12:20 PM

Boy, is this guy wearing a fluffy hoodie, or what!!!? What a character. There does appear to be some noise in the red and black feathers.

Registered on May 23, 2009, 800 Posts, 2042 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 3, 2015 at 12:48 PM

Great illustration of this bird and environment. I specially like the pose you caught, as well as the colors and sharpness. Agree about the leaf needing toned down. Thanks for sharing. Hope you will pose more of these birds.

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

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on February 3, 2015 at 1:49 PM

Amazing species, well photographed since jungle photography poses it's own challenge .. Great result ! Hans

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

Comment posted by peter davidson on February 3, 2015 at 2:17 PM

Terrific shot, nice eye contact! My only complaint (not really) is the composition is very central to the eye and thus a little static. Cropping and placing the bird top-left and using the branch as a strong diagonal seems to improve this.

Registered on January 29, 2015, 11 Posts, 39 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 3, 2015 at 2:35 PM

Very nice and excellent exposure on those difficult reds.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 3, 2015 at 5:31 PM

Among the very best Andean Cock of the Rock photos I've seen, Chuck. Really nice.

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

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on February 3, 2015 at 7:20 PM

Very nice! Great pose, I like the composition and the colors.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on February 4, 2015 at 5:08 AM

I very much enjoyed my time with these incredible birds when I was in Ecuador a few years ago, unfortunately the light is very low during the time of day that they display. But you did an incredible job capturing this one in all his glory. Wonderful details and splendid cloud forest habitat.

A Beauty Chuck

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

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on February 4, 2015 at 11:51 AM

I agree about the leaf in the top left needing to be burned a little darker. But that's it! Great job handling the difficult colors. I like this a lot. Well done!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on February 5, 2015 at 1:36 AM

Fantastic Chuck - great even light, sharp and a wonderful setting

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments