Show us your bishops, paradise-flycatchers, whydahs and widowbirds

[Tom Kellie]

Euplectes axillaris

Photographed at 11:48 am on 11 February, 2014 in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.

ISO 800, 1/2500 sec., f/5.6, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

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Midway through the all-day game drive in Amboseli National Park, we stopped beside a shallow marsh with sedges, reeds and blooming Nymphaea, for observation and photography.

A small bird flitted from stem to stem. It was a male Euplectes axillaris, Fan-tailed Widowbird in breeding plumage. Highly active, it never perched in any one place for more than a few moments.

[Bush dog]

Pin-tailed whydah (Mara Triangle)

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

Pin-tailed whydah (Mara Triangle)

 

~ @@Bush dog

 

Those images are far beyond ‘superlative’.

They're absolutely top shelf, both technically and aesthetically.

Seeing them brightens up my evening.

Many Thanks!

Tom K.

[Bush dog]

Pin-tailed whydah (Mara Triangle)

 

 

Fan-tailed widowbird (Mara Triangle)

 

 

Red-collared widowbird (Mara triangle)

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Bush dog

 

How about that Red-collared Widowbird color?

Saturated as few colors in nature are.

That species I saw for the first time two months ago today in Nairobi National Park.

I didn't know that they also lived in the Mara Triangle.

Such fine photographs renew my gratitude for being able to see, and for your having posted them here in Safaritalk.

Many Thanks!

Tom K.