Hong Kong

Photographer's Note

This photo was taken at the Ocean Park theme park.

Toucan is the Brazilian name for a bird of the tropical American family Ramphastidae, characterized by their huge but beaks.

The beck is a hollow, honeycomb structure, of fibrous strands, that makes it strong but light.

There are 37 species of these birds ranging from Mexico to Argentina. Toucans are found only in the Western Hemisphere.

The Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) frequents the rain-forests from Guiana to Bolivia and northern Argentina.

It is 25 inches long and is the largest of the Toucans. The beak, 8 inches long and 3 inches high at the base, is deep orange with a large black spot near the tip.

The Toco Toucan eats mainly fruit and uses its large bill as a tool for picking it. It also feeds on seeds, spiders, insects, eggs and an occasional lizard or bird.

When it sleeps, a Toucan turns its head so that its long bill rests on its back, then folds its long tail neatly over it.

Toucans often gather in large groups and chatter loudly and noisily, their calls being synchronized with the fast upward swings of their bills.

Tech: Cropped tightly around the bird. Resized and sharpened. Contrast +6. Added border.

Dinyar, papagolf21, nwoehnl, PLD_images, elihesamian, jmdaoudal, jhm, kajenn, sunny, ma-tibou, carper, maphoto, Jeppe has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

thebecky (688) 2004-12-01 1:10

Wow this is great. What beautiful colours and detail. I like the way you have cropped this.

kozerog (1288) 2004-12-01 1:19

Nice portret of Toco Toucan. Good cropped.

Dinyar (704) 2004-12-01 3:52

Nice, Clear and Sharp picture.
Nice portrait of the Bird. Useful note as well.
It looks like the bird was posing. Nice DOF as well.

papagolf21 (152607) 2004-12-01 4:25

Cher Andrew,
J'ignorais à quel point le Toucan est un oiseau coloré (un oiseau de toutes les couleurs). J'aime ce curieux bec en forme de corne de brume.
Ses yeux bleus sont charmeurs et étonnants.
Son cou qui s'orne d'un jabot (crop) blanc du plus bel effet.
Très bien réalisé, Andrew.
Merci du partage et de la note d'accompagnement.

nwoehnl (122) 2004-12-01 5:32

Very good framing for this one, Andrew - it seems like an obvious thing to do for a toucan shot to have the beak occupy most of the frame, but the result you got is really delightful. Of course the colors are a joy to behold, and I also like your use of DOF, and the "twinkle" in the bird's eye.

PLD_images (7149) 2004-12-01 6:45

Hello Andrew,
What a beautiful photograph this is. I really like the tight cropping that works very well with this kind of shot. The colors are really great. It must be a very interesting park to visit, specially with a camera ;-) Good note also, quite instructive.

elihesamian (26149) 2004-12-01 8:46

Good use of DOF,and colors are amazing,what a beautifil bird really!...and I like her eyes,very strong:)
well captured and thanks for sharing.

jmdaoudal (82) 2004-12-01 10:12

T U for the illustrated lesson on the toco toucan. Its portrait is very well done.
Compliments
Jean Michel

jrj (34843) 2004-12-01 12:24

Good capture of the great Tucan, Andrew. Maybe some grain but absoloute acceptable. Great guy.

jhm (211738) 2004-12-01 12:50

Excellent pattern Andrew, what beautiful colours and detail, your note is fantastic, the eyes of this Toucan its wonderful, lovely portrait of this bird.
Well done!

kajenn (2462) 2004-12-01 20:56

Beautifully framed, Andrew, with a nice tight crop. And you're really setting off the wonderful beak of this remarkable bird. Splendid DOF and nice focus on the beautiful blue eye. There's a lot of noise in the background - possibly from a combination of low light and long zoom - but as it doesn't affect the Toucan itself, it only adds to the depth. The over all colors are astonishing - especially the black in the plumage is well rendered. Great note too - I love how they sleep. Very well done!

avigur_11 (22553) 2004-12-01 22:51

a very good shot ad an excellent tight framing, Andrew. It looks like the huge beak is going to breat out from the frame (which gives me a nice WS idea which I might try later). Well done, beautiful shot.

pamastro (7296) 2004-12-01 23:21

The toucan is such a peculiar looking bird. That huge beak seems like a funny mask strapped around its neck. Everything is normal, almost pigeon like until we get to the beak. The crop here is nice, the beak forms a good diagonal across the image. The DOF also works well. And the colors are very nicely saturated. Very natural and real. Nice job.

sunny (3069) 2004-12-02 0:49

I didn't expect a close up from you, Andrew, but here it is, thus - a wonderful one! :-) Great colours and framing, together with fine DOF. Love it!

ma-tibou (4568) 2004-12-02 13:13

bonsoir Andrew, quelle jolie photo animalière, des couleurs éclatante, pouir ce bien bel oiseau, bravo.
amitié/ martine.

carper (96) 2004-12-02 13:37

Yes I had seen your Toekan before,
It's a nice shot you took, The colours are good, and I like the pof and the dof, and Yes he is looking in the camera. very nice job Andrew, I like it

harold (2377) 2004-12-02 14:41

bravo, une très belle photo de ce bel oiseau, de magnifiques couleurs jolie réalisation.

maphoto (8082) 2004-12-03 8:31

Another beauty of nature, great colors and wonderful close up, excellent depth and cropping, very nice, superb !

Jeppe (18654) 2004-12-08 16:27

Very beautiful image of this lovely bird - I like the bright colours and the very special coulered eye's - thanks Andrew - too bad I seldom visit such places.

dsidwell (9783) 2004-12-09 11:25

This makes me want to eat Fruit Loops! Nice image, vibrant colors, though there seems to be some weird digital noise of some kind throughout, like a texture applied. I think the composition is quite nice. Thanks for a lovely bird!

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-12-20 21:21

great details, just needs a little sharpening, but great job

summer89 (5422) 2005-02-02 17:21

Hi Andrew,

It´s look like you take this shot in Brazil :)

Well done

mishreyee (0) 2005-03-26 0:27

I like birds very much and i find this one of your superb shot! The eye is so wonderful, fascinating!

joaoferreira (0) 2005-03-30 17:31

Yes! It's a brazilian species. It's one of my favorites! hehehe I have already seen groups of these birds flying freely on the sky of a brazilian city. It's really beautiful! Grat picture!

vapours (8264) 2005-06-10 8:57

Great shot, and an even more amazing bird. I've always known these birds existed but I guess its the first close-up photo of one.

alvinong (93) 2005-06-24 8:51

Perfect cropping! I like you emphasdize the beak of the toucan with the big, bright yellow beak. I love it, I can say this is may favorite from ur album.