Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis)

[dolina]

Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) by alabang, on Flickr

The Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the family Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region, including the Philippines (where it is known as Tikling), New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand (where it is known as the Banded Rail or Moho-pereru in Māori),[2] and numerous smaller islands, covering a range of latitudes from the tropics to the Subantarctic.

It is a largely terrestrial bird the size of a small domestic chicken, with mainly brown upperparts, finely banded black and white underparts, a white eyebrow, chestnut band running from the bill round the nape, with a buff band on the breast. It utilises a range of moist or wetland habitats with low, dense vegetation for cover. It is usually quite shy but may become very tame and bold in some circumstances, such as in island resorts within the Great Barrier Reef region.[3]

The Buff-banded Rail is an omnivorous scavenger which feeds on a range of terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates, seeds, fallen fruit and other vegetable matter, as well as carrion and refuse. Its nest is usually situated in dense grassy or reedy vegetation close to water, with a clutch size of 3-4. Although some island populations may be threatened, or even exterminated, by introduced predators, the species as a whole appears to be safe and its conservation status is considered to be of Least Concern.

Source: Buff-banded Rail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taken: Los Baños, Laguna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Settings: 1/200 ƒ/8 ISO 100 800mm

[ksbryan0]

Nice photo, Paolo! I'm guessing you're using a 400 mm lens with a 2X TC? Wondering about the f/8 aperture used here, and thinking that a larger aperture would have helped isolate the bird from the background. But if you're using a 2X TC, f/8 may be your largest choice. Background clutter aside, it remains a nice capture.

[dolina]

Nice photo, Paolo! I'm guessing you're using a 400 mm lens with a 2X TC? Wondering about the f/8 aperture used here, and thinking that a larger aperture would have helped isolate the bird from the background. But if you're using a 2X TC, f/8 may be your largest choice. Background clutter aside, it remains a nice capture.

Many thanks bryan!

I was using a Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM.

f/8 was chosen as the subject/bird distance was nearing to the lenses' closest focusing distance of 6m/19.7ft. At that focusing distance shooting wide open at f/5.6 would cause some of the bird to be out of focus.

For reference the male Rail is 300-316mm in length while the female is 280-294mm. (Johnstone & Darnell 2004)

The image is a 11.2MP out of 16MP crop. The crop was done for compositional purposes.

Kindly pardon the center watermark. I was testing out LR5 Beta's cloning ability. As a clone newbie I am impressed by the results.

[dolina]

Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) by alabang, on Flickr

Location: Candaba, Pampanga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Settings: 1/500 f/5.6 ISO 160 800mm

Full Screen Retina Display: Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) by Paolo Dolina | 500px