Pin-tailed Whydah

So far I am disappointed

Trying to finish up 2025 images (up till Nov 1 anyway). These were taken in August. It was an uncommon opportunity in San Diego, and unfortunately, even though I took 1000’s of images over two mornings, overall I am disappointed. I thought I would have better images. A combination of poor lighting (bright backgrounds), bad luck, poor operator (bad focusing and framing) all conspired to deny me the images I thought I was going to have. This is a Pin-tailed Wydah. An African bird that originally was pet escapee; now however they are actively breeding in Southern California. What made this situation unique is that there were two males and one female, so the males were displaying and dancing to try to impress the lady. This was taking place in a public park. Hopefully as I go through the rest of my images I will find better ones, but these will give you an idea.

Subscribe
Notify of
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest
warnerk
November 7, 2025 7:09 am

Wow, cool bird.

Mike Warner
Admin
November 8, 2025 6:11 am

That is a fantastic shot of the Whydah! We saw one perched in South Africa but this shot is so much better. Reviewing my shots from S.A. I had similar feelings about them (wishing more were better). Two other factors caused some softness in my shots were heat waves and shooting from a vehicle while it was running.

Paul Demkovich
November 18, 2025 7:55 pm

This is a very good shot of this displaying male!

Eurasian Coot
White-fronted Terns
3
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x