Paradise Riflebird

Today's prize catch. Spotted at Charlie Moorlands on a walk there. Very difficult to photograph being a dark bird in the rainforest. I had fogotten to take my flash with me on the walk so these are high ISO shots suitable for ID puposes only.

A spectacular bird to watch with it's irredescent crown, bib and tail feathers flashing as it moved about hunting for food.

View all photos taken: Sunday, 28th November 2010, This photo: 11:43am

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Comments

  • sjmc1 said:
    Beautifull bird david,cant say i've seen one before.
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemack] We hadn't either Steve. 'twas a first for all there. Amazing to see in person.
  • The Central Scrutiniser said:
    wow - amazed you even saw one!
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/hojucandy] So were we! There are three varieties of riflebird, The Magnificent (found only on the tip of Cape York), the Paradise (found from Gladstone to Singleton) and Victoria's (found Cooktown to Mt Spee near Townsville).
    Apparently all are "fairly common" but I'd never seen one before, although now I've heard it, I reckon I've heard one before.
  • Cobra_11 said:
    What an excellent capture!
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobra_11] Nah, it's an ok shot. Eventually I'll do better, but it'll take another trip and some time spent there with a tripod and flash (or two).
  • plant.nerd said:
    Great shot there is not many good photographs of this species. I have seen them a few times especially the females which are brown and look like overgrown tree creepers one even got stuck in our house for an hour, the males can be seen at Lamington NP though they are usually 30+m up in the dark canopy with terrible backlight so I havnt even managed to get a shot as good as yours.
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/plantnerd] The second one we saw was easily that far up the side of a pine tree. Even at 560mm on a 1.3x crop body it wasn't enough.
  • Tatters:) said:
    I can imagine your thrill when you managed to photograph this legendary bird.
    --
    Seen on your photo stream. (?)
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgerus] Absolutely! Will return to try to get a better shot at some stage.
  • Stavenn said:
    A beauty ! Great shot
    Seen in:
    Paradisaeidae: Birds of paradise
  • LPJC said:
    It looks a good shot to me. Annoying when you need the flash and don't have it, but I do like the photo.
  • David de Groot said:
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/76033499@N00] Thanks. I still plan to eventually get a really clear shot showing the iridescent parts even more.