Birds: Variegated Fairy-wrens

Iv'e been waiting for the male Variegated fairy-wrens to start molting into their colourful breeding plumage and in my local nature reserve it seems they are now although some birds still are in the process of molting. Here are a few pictures of males and females I managed to capture. Not an easy task with skitty birds but managed to get a few moments where they came to investigate me walking past.

regards,

Vas

Males

Females

nice shots, I always think that the females have a very good if understated attractiveness.

Never seen that kind of bird before.  Really a neat bird.  Here we just have the Carolina Wren, and although I think it's a pretty bird...it pales beside the Fairy.  Good name for it...it looks "other worldly".  Thanks for sharing.

Gorgeous and beautiful birds, nice capture!

Cheezr wrote:

Beautiful birds, very nice and also sharp!

I don't do well with local birds as they spot me a mile off.

CZR

Thanks Cheezr, I'm going to try get even closer next time. Some are cropped a fair bit but still satisfying shots for me considering the crops.

Trevor Carpenter wrote:

nice shots, I always think that the females have a very good if understated attractiveness.

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Thanks Trevor, I love the females too, they are like cute little fluff puffs.

Bobby J wrote:

Never seen that kind of bird before. Really a neat bird. Here we just have the Carolina Wren, and although I think it's a pretty bird...it pales beside the Fairy. Good name for it...it looks "other worldly". Thanks for sharing.

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BJM

Glad to share photo's of this beautiful bird for the world to see

Very very good shots what distance were they and do you use Single or continuous mode ?

Regards Olyham

both modes, depends on the situation. Distances were from 3m to about 6m from memory. You don't get much 2nd chances with these birds you must be ready for the moments they will inestigate, pass by etc. Once they are on to you they move on quickly. they are very skitty if not living near humans as these ones are.

Denisio Fabuloso wrote:

We have one in the West called a Redwing Fairy Wren. Very similar

They are similar indeed. I will look for them if I ever go west enough

I'm not usually one to bring up background blur, but it seems rather busy and distracting in some of these. Otherwise, the pics are excellent.

Will come soon, impossible where I shot these, I had to bash through scrub, spiders and snakes to get to them. But if the opportunity should present itself i'll give it a go

Hen3ry wrote:

Thanks

My eyes disagree but I know some of the shots have more background than some like but not me.
In these conditions it's pretty hard to isolate the subject as the vegetation is very thick and I didn't get close enough to the males when in open but if the bird lives in that environment I like to see some of it in some photos which is why I still posted them. I actually want a mix some background and some creamy bokeh which I can get later in better conditions. My eyes personally look right at the fairy-wren due to it's stand out colour compared to the background but if more creamy bokeh is your thing I would be shooting f4 or f2.8 without TC in these conditions for sure to minimise it to the max.

Jim Salvas wrote:

I'm not usually one to bring up background blur, but it seems rather busy and distracting in some of these. Otherwise, the pics are excellent.