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Dustin Chen's Image
Dustin Chen (UK) sacrifices his legs to leeches to experience the breathtaking display of a flame bowerbird.
Sharing his hide with a host of leeches, Dustin watched the flame bowerbird with awe. For 40 minutes it performed a dazzling dance routine in front of its bower, an avenue of sticks carefully constructed for its dramatic mating display. Dustin framed the dancing male at the centre of the image, with an interested female positioned watching in the background.
Male bowerbirds perform hypnotising displays to impress potential mates, fanning their spectacular plumage and delivering a complicated routine of steps and positions. In this case, despite the male's best efforts, the female bowerbird seemed unimpressed, disappearing into the trees as soon as the show was over.
Behind the lens
Dustin Chen
UK
Dustin is interested in photographing the courtship display behaviours of birds, seeing how intelligent the birds are and how the females choose what males to mate with.
Image details
- Nikon D850
- 800mm f5.6 lens
- 1/320 sec at f5.6 • ISO 2500 • Gitzo tripod + Uniqball head
- Elevala River, Kiunga, Papua New Guinea
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