Name the Birdie







These are several species of birds I captured in my visits to Kurunegala. Can anyone identify them ?

Comments

  1. I have the same question about the first one. The second one is a bee eater. and I can't clearly see the third one. :)

    Regards,
    Jayaruwan - http://jayaruwan.gunathilake.com/

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  2. Thanks for visiting Jayaru !

    WHICH bee-eater is the million dollar question :)

    sorry about the clarity of the third, I think i should have manipulated the camera settings for a better quality pic. Although I have been using this cam for about 10 months now I couldnt quite get experiment much. The problem is whenever I take a picture of a subjest against the clear blue sky its quite difficult to alter brightness and contrast in the post processing as the subject tend to look too dark even with the slightest increase of contrast and so on...

    you have any suggestions for that?

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  3. The first one is a bulbul, the third one can be a swallow.

    Happy day to you.

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  4. First one White-browed Bulbul
    Second - Green bee-eater
    Third - Red-rumped swallow an endemic to Sri lanka

    Tip for taking bird photographs against the sky - If your camera is a DSLR or a like just increase exposure using exposure compensation by half or 1/4 stops (Even one stop might be not over defend on the light condition ) and you would get a better result and no need of post editing.

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  5. Greetings from Udawalawe!
    Thanks for inviting me to identify your birds.

    The first is White-browed Bulbul Pycnonotus luteolus--an Indian subcontinent endemic.

    The second one is Little Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis ceylonicus--a widespread species of which the sub-species found in SL is endemic.

    The last one used to be Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica hyperythra of which the sub-species was endemic to SL. A recent revision elevated this sub-species into full species. With that the SL population became Hirundo hyperythra, the common name of which is Sri Lanka Swallow. This name is now re-confirmed in the second edition of A Feild Guide to Birds of Sri Lanka by John Harrison, published in 2011.

    BTW, Hirundo daurica continues to be called Red-rumped Swallow, which is a rare winter visitor to SL (subspecies nipalensis and erythropygia).

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  6. well I guess you got the answer to your question on how to expose them properly. but I prefer to bring out the details during post processing. if an image is underexposed, you can bring out the details, especially if you are shooting RAW. but if it's overexposed, the details are gone for good. increasing the EV helps but it also overexposes the background. since I'm using some budget lenses, chromatic aberration becomes clearly visible when overexposed. so I tend to rely on post processing.

    another method is to use spot metering and meter the bird.

    force firing your flasher might come in handy when shooting close objects but is frowned upon in wild life photography. so I wouldn't advice it.

    Jayaruwan

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  7. These birds look so pretty and colourful. And they have all been identified :-)

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  8. Just managed to learn the birds' name from the comments here. I also think that to over expose by a couple of stops depending on the situation is the solution....

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  9. Thanks everyone for the comments !

    @Bushana; welcome to my blog!
    mine is a canon xti and these were taken with the zoom lens. I have never touched the exposure but seems its high time i start using it.

    @Gallicissa;
    thanks for the comprehensive discription of the birds. your expert opinion is always welcome :)
    so you mean to say that i have captured one of the endemics ? btw i wonder on what grounds a subspecies can be elevated to the level of a species....

    birding in Udawalawe?
    hope we will see some nice pics soon.

    @Jayaru;
    the third pic was taken sometime back before i started using the spot metering and yes, it helps in these kinds of situations. but the problem with me is i forget that i have put the spot metering and go on taking other pics with the same feature. so i end up with a lot of over and under exposed pics of the same thing (like the two pics in my 'putty tat' post.
    i think shooting RAW is a bit ahead of me at least for now.

    @Frieda; these pics were collected over sometimes as i could not post them without knowing their identification for certain and then i thought why not ask them instead ? :)
    and i got to learn a lot !

    @grass; yeah, my next obsession is manipulating the exposure :)

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  10. well you never know unless you try :) canon's RAW processing software is very easy to use. once you get the hang of it, you'll never go back. if you haven't already installed the Canon Digital Photo Professional, go ahead an try it. it's not another useless "free" application comes with the camera. it does almost everything you need. I resort to photoshop only if I need to make fine adjustments.

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  11. Hi Pirate!

    Thanks for adding these birds here cos it’s nice to know their identity when we see them around.

    About the birds photography tips, I’ll catch you soon for this .. lol

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  12. Been in Kurunegala for six years now,never seen that Bulbul , seen the other too but no luck with photography. Would you believe me If I say that I've never seen those swallows perched? When ever I see them,they are in continuous flight!

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  13. I'm not good with birds hehe... but they all look verry pretty! :)

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