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Mother and Child
Mother and Child
GinaRothfels


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Portrait Of A Wild Bird (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: Challenges 2009
Camera: Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon
Location: My garden
Date: Dec 27, 2009
Aperture: F8.0
ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/1600 sec
Galleries: Birds
Date Uploaded: Dec 27, 2009

 Two members of a family of Spotted Dikkops living in my garden.

The parents moved into our garden several weeks ago. Since she laid her eggs we have been very careful not to disturb them more than necessary. Hence this part of the garden has been neglected for the last couple of weeks.

The baby is a week old in this photo and already fairly independent. He seems destined to be the only baby this year as a couple of days after he hatched, his parents abandoned the other egg.

You can see a (poor quality) video of his antics here.

[Dec. 30th, 2009 04:53:49 AM]

I'm totally devastated. The baby is dead. When I've looked out of the window this morning I've seen the mother go up to look at him a couple of times and then she stares at me as if she is asking for help.

I keep going back to the window to look in the hope that he is just sleeping and that he'll still move, but he's been lying there for a long time now and I know that it's not going to happen.

I wish I knew what went wrong because the parents were so protective.

In reponse to Melethia's comment, I'm almost sure the baby was killed by an Indian Myna bird. I was warned of the possibility of that long before the egg ever hatched.

Statistics
Place: 106 out of 138
Avg (all users): 5.3369
Avg (commenters): 6.5714
Avg (participants): 5.2000
Avg (non-participants): 5.4098
Views since voting: 683
Views during voting: 338
Votes: 187
Comments: 10
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 03/03/2010 01:09:09 AM
How sad. Who knows what happened. Maybe the mother brought back something that was slightly toxic - that happens all too often anymore. Poor little family.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/03/2010 09:59:33 PM
I love the clarity of the pic but the light is aslightly too harsh and takes away from the pic
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2010 11:16:48 AM
Mama looks like she's ready to attack if you move one step closer! Great capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/01/2010 07:23:12 PM
the light is awesome.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/30/2009 06:07:52 PM
Quite the fierce look she's giving you! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/30/2009 03:28:14 PM
very cute, nice capture and comp, 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/30/2009 01:46:47 PM
Wonderful capture and composition, really too bad about the harsh contrast. Would a little Shadow/Highlight adjustment cut down on those blown highlights, and lighten up some of the dark areas.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/29/2009 05:37:09 PM
haha...look at the way she stares at you, seems ready to pounce. anyhiw, great shot, love the lighting and story.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/29/2009 10:44:29 AM
The harsh lighting is really making this shot a tough one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/28/2009 03:50:04 PM
Very cute.. Hate the tree in the FG.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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