This is the faithful Common Paraque that roosts right beside a busy foot-trail at Estero Llano Grande World Birding Center in Weslaco TX, and is seen by hundreds of birders a year. it would be thousands of birders a year if the Paraque were easier to see. I know many birders (including me) who have gone to the spot where it roosts only to be defeated by the bird’s amazing camouflage. Even this year, according to the testimony of birders who were there only moments after I was, there were two birds there, and I only managed to see one.

This is a telephoto macro, taken from about 6 feet at the equivalent of 2400mm. I used the Canon SX50HS’ Digital Tel-converter to boost the 1200mm equivalent zoom by 2x. This is exactly the kind of image were the DTC works really well. Canon has managed to build a processing engine into the camera that preserves detail well beyond what one would expect of 2x digital zoom. In a scene without much detail…a distant bird on water for instance, with a lot of open water…the artifacts are much easier to see…but here all you see is the amazing detail of the intricate feather patterns.

It is also shot at ISO 800. Not something I would have attempted only a few years ago. The quality that Canon nurses out of the tiny sensor in the SX50HS is just short of unbelievable. And finally, of course, the image was captured hand-held. A 2400mm! That is Image Stabilization.

But, in the end, it is about the image, not the equipment or the technology. And the image speaks for itself. Eye of Paraque!

f6.5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.