Little Black Cormorant in silhouette 

Little Black Cormorant

This photograph of a Little Black Cormorant in flight at the Oak Street Wetland was taken on 6 December 2024 a bit after sunrise. There wasn’t much light at the time as the cloud obscured the sun but the combination of cloud and sun resulted in a rather dramatic sky. Exposing for the sky resulted in the bird in silhouette.

Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/3200s f/6.3 ISO200

A flower beetle in our backyard

Mordella

On a cloudy morning of 22 November 2024, I spotted a flower beetle of the genius Mordella. I am unable to identify the specific species of this beetle. The iNaturalist Seek mobile app was only able identify the genius.

This is the first time I have seen this beetle. It disappeared the next day.

The photograph was taken with the Nikon Z 105mm macro lens with a Roynox DCR-250 and a flash diffused by a newly acquired Cynustech diffuser.

Nikon Z8, NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, Rayox DCR-250, Nikon SB-910, Cynustech Diffuser @ 1/200s f/22 ISO400

Superb Fairywren singing passionately

Superb Fairywren (Male)
Superb Fairywren (Male)

On 20 November 2024, I came across this male Superb Fairywren at Trin Warren Tam-boore singing with gusto.

The pose was excellent but there were some twigs and branches in the background. I think it contributes to tell a story of the habitat of the bird.

As an experiment, I used Adobe Photoshop to remove some objects in the background. This resulted in the second photograph.

What I feel about the alternated image is that it looks too sterile and, therefore, lacks authenticity. I think I still prefer the original photograph.

Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/640s f/6.3 ISO450