Little Rush Warbler (South Africa)

[Dorian Anderson]

This is so typical - everyone else who goes to South Africa shoots raptors, rollers, hornbills, and mammals while I shoot the overlooked species like cisticolas and warblers!

This result is a minor miracle as this species is known to be shy, skulky, secretive, and everything in between. They spend the huge majority of their lives buried in reeds and
rarely reveal themselves, even in response to audio. This unusual example responded well to tape, and I noticed that it perched on this dry reed several times as it orbited me.
The problem? The perch was surrounded by all sorts of distracting junk; there was crap in front, behind, and on the sides. So, I played the tape through my remote speaker placed
in the grass under the perch, let me bird land, and -- when it eventually flitted off -- removed a bit of the distraction. After ten iterations of this game, I'd cleared the favored perch
to the best of my ability. And wouldn't you know it? The bird landed exactly where I wanted it right at sunset! I've not seen any better frames of this species, so I'm hella stoked with this!

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS R5
1/1600 at f/5.6 ISO 3200

• Canon EOS R5
• EF600mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III
• ƒ/5.6
• 840mm
• 1/1600s
• ISO 3200
• dorian anderson
• Wed, 30 August 2023 8:31 AM
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.5 (Macintosh)

 

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Your persistence paid off! Lovely frame. This is my favorite pose for perched birds -- full rear view with head turned perfectly. Gorgeous light to boot.

 

[William Dickson]

Well captured Dorian. The pose on the bird looks real good. Lovely detail, just wondering if the eye/chin area needs sharpened a little, as the detail along the back of the bird looks a wee bit sharper to my eye. Nice perch, and the BG colours are fab.

Will