The Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) is a large, up to 44 cm long, near-passerine tropical bird native to Africa. It is a member of the family Phoeniculidae, the wood Hoopoes, and was formerly known as the Red-billed Wood Hoopoe. They are common but are constantly on the move and very wary. They have the most fabulous laughter/call and are very sociable birds.
The Zulu's call them "Ntlheki bafazi" because they make such a racket when hunting, searching for bugs. This translates to the "chatter of noisy women" :) I can vouch for that!
Another one from my "difficult to shoot" Wildlife Series. Scant opportunities for me (of this species) since I went digital in 2009. They've been near impossible to photograph unless you are in the exact right place, right time and they don't see you.
I Leopard crawled - behind him to get this shot. This one was hopping about digging in the bark catching insects on my plot. They are often in the shade so a sunlit moment like this is few and far between.
For BiF, they swoop fly, meaning there is a fair amount of vertical up and down movement as they beat their wings and images are also quite difficult to get.
They are my favourite bird of the 900+ species found here in Southern Africa.
RAW NEF-TIFF, EV -1.0, Cropped, cloned out twigs, enhanced contrast and saturation, sharpened, resized, sfw.
Any comment or critique; complimentary or critical are welcome and appreciated. Questions about gear, technique etc. also welcome.
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