Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Nikon D850, Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6

f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 500, 460mm

May 2020.

A bird I think doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Dunnock comes from the old english, Dun meaning dingy brown and Ock, meaning small. Which I think is a rather unfair description. I have found them to be both beautiful and charming.

As you can see from these pictures they have a soft grey colour on the front that merges into to the brown and black feathers of the head and back. At the height of the breeding season the grey feathers can have a blue sheen.

I watched this bird doing a mating display on top of this post for at least 10 minutes. It was the first time I had seen this in this species and it was very entertaining as it did a skipping, wingless dance trying to attract the attention of a female.

  • Lunch
    link
    English
    99 months ago

    Man your pictures are just next level good, someone hire this man already!!

      • @EvilTedOP
        link
        English
        39 months ago

        Hail Santa!

        (And thank you too!)

    • @EvilTedOP
      link
      English
      69 months ago

      You’re too kind, but thank you.

      • Lunch
        link
        English
        69 months ago

        Was just showing these to another camera enthusiast and he highly approved of your pictures too, but he was curios as to how big each picture gets in terms of file size (considering the equipment you’re rocking), I believe you wrote somewhere else that you shoot in RAW?

        • @EvilTedOP
          link
          English
          49 months ago

          Tldr: 51.6 MB on the D850 and 28.5 MB on the D7200.

          The D850 sensor is a full frame 35.9mm x 23.9mm with 46.9 million pixels. The files are 51.6 MB in 14 bit lossless compression format.

          The D7200 I also use has an APS-C sensor 23.5mm x 15.6mm with 24 million pixels. 14 bit lossless compression gives 28.5 MB files.

          You can shoot the D850 in crop mode which makes it essential like a D500 which is the best APS-C Nikon do (at least with a mirror) and you will get D7200 comparative files. I don’t use it like that as I want ALL the pixels lol Mostly for the fact I want as much freedom to locate the subject in the final image as I can.

          I use a Sony XQD 120 GB 440 mb/s primary card in the D850 with a SanDisk extreme pro UHS-II as roll over storage, unless I need a backup for an important event and then I duplicate across both cards. I use 2 of the SanDisk cards in the D7200.

          You can get about 2300 D850 14 bit lossless compressed RAW files on the Sony card.

          • Lunch
            link
            English
            39 months ago

            I know nothing about these advanced camera systems, but appreciate the detailed response. I will share it will my fellow camera friend :) Have a great rest of your day 🐦

            • @EvilTedOP
              link
              English
              39 months ago

              It’s never too late to become a gear head lol

              If your friend has any other questions let me know.

              You too 👍

    • @EvilTedOP
      link
      English
      59 months ago

      Thanks 😊

  • KevinFRK
    link
    English
    69 months ago

    Fun, and nice to see a classic LBJ (Little Brown Job - you know, that species of bird you’re always seeing but can never name) in a different light.

    • @EvilTedOP
      link
      English
      49 months ago

      Glad you like it Kevin.