MadHatter's Big Year

[Jayburd]

Stunning photos as usual

[desertbirds]

what happened to to the other 2000 shots ?
Really great shots Madhatter, there`s a few there that are up with the best of photos available on the net . The rain and a change in season bought about the moult in a few of the smaller insectivourous species but also had a few others turning up in numbers. After veiwing those pics , you can come back

It has been a great thread and i look foward to the rest of the year.Hats off to madhatter, its not a fluke getting pics like the ones added today.

[Jayburd]

Here here

[finchbreeder]

Great photography. Enjoying viewing/reading this thread very much.
LML

[desertbirds]

I love all the pics, the Mulga Parrot pair is sensational, the colour and condition of the birds is spot on. Same can be said for the Emu Wren male, the list goes on and on

A question for the softbill experts, What purpose do whiskers serve on some of the species here ? Inland thornbills. Hooded Robins ect.

[spanna]

Fantastic photos, very jealous. What lens are you using? Some of those birds are just amazing, and your camera work is phenomenal.

Desertbirds, I would assume (though can't conclusive prove) that the whiskers would either:
a) act as an enlarged area to catch quick insects, effectively funnelling them towards the beak, or
b) act as a sensory aid for the birds, in that when an insect his the whiskers on the right hand side of the beak, it turns it's head to the right (with the lightning quick reflexes all little birds possess) to catch its meal. I've often wondered the same thing, but have yet to look for any scientific studies...

[MadHatter]

Spanna: I'm using an Olympus E-520 with Olympus Zuiko 140-600mm (equivalent) zoom lens.

[Tintola]

A question for the softbill experts, What purpose do whiskers serve on some of the species here ? Inland thornbills. Hooded Robins ect.

Expert is such an ambiguous term but here goes! The whiskers are a sensory organ to tell the bird the location of an insect in relation to its beak, that is, if the bug is off to the left the bird adjusts its head to centralise the bug for easy swallowing, many birds close their eyes, or the third eyelid comes over, when grabbing a bug to protect them from scratches etc.

Quote from the net.

Does that bird have whiskers?"

"Yes. It does."

"Why would a bird have whiskers?"

"I don't know. I've never seen a bird with whiskers before."

So went the banter between Gwen and Bobby Morgan of Seymour after Gwen discovered a small, mottled-brown, wren-sized bird on the ground beneath a Cades Cove picnic table. Bobby described the very conspicuous whiskers as about as long as the bird's bill.

The identity of the bird is a mystery, but many flycatchers have obvious whiskers. This bird was smaller and browner than an eastern phoebe - a common Great Smoky Mountains flycatcher.

Bird whiskers are called rictal bristles by ornithologists. "Rictal" refers to the rictus, the fleshy part of the bill near the back where the bristles or whiskers grow.

Bird whiskers differ from the stiff hairs near the mouths of mammals like cats and dogs. They are specialized feathers and not hairs. Each black or brown bristle is a stiff, bare, tapered feather shaft - a naked shaft without the colored, feathery parts that normally branch out from its sides. It's a modified feather that looks like a hair.

Flycatchers, swallows and some of the goatsuckers (especially whippoorwills) have conspicuous whiskers near their mouths. Because these species feed in a similar manner - by capturing flying insects in midair with their mouths - one might assume that whiskers have something to do with this feeding habit.

People used to think bird whiskers acted as a little net or funnel that increased a bird's "reach" beyond the diameter of its open mouth and helped guide more insects into the mouth.

However, one study of flycatchers with their whiskers experimentally removed showed that birds without whiskers caught just as many insects as birds with whiskers. Whiskers may keep insects (and airborne pieces of captured insects) away from the nostrils and eyes of birds that catch insects in flight. However, high-speed movies show some flycatchers snap up flies with the tip of the beak. Insects never reach the rear of the mouth, where they might come in contact with the whiskers.

Woodpeckers, crows and ravens have bristles around their nostrils. Take a close look at the brushy "moustache" on a downy woodpecker. A feather mustache helps a woodpecker avoid inhaling sawdust as it excavates trees for cavities and insects.

An ostrich has eyelashes - modified feather shafts around its eyes. Bristles on the faces of owls and harriers might act as organs of touch. Some owls see poorly up close.

Whiskers may serve primarily as sensory organs of touch for many birds.

This is a purpose of whiskers in mammals. Although these two different types of whiskers - hair and feather - developed independently of each other in mammals and birds, both may serve the same purpose, the sense of touch.

Birds surely benefit by having whiskers. Otherwise, they would not have them. Biologists are still trying to figure out the details of all the benefits of whiskers.

[MadOzzie]

Thnaks for the great shots. You obviously have skill and a great camera / lens.

To help me (I have just bought a good camera/lens) do you crop the shots before posting or are they as framed when shot?

MadOzzie.

[MadHatter]

MadOzzie, most of the shots have been heavily cropped, all have had contrast correction applied and some have also had noise reduction applied.