Cormorant taking off

[thebeardedgroundsman]

This Cormorant lives on the River Thames, upstream of Reading - about as far from the sea as you can get in Britain!

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[jamescooper]

Amazing shot! Is it really that purple colour? Never seen this dark purple bird picture by posting any photographer. What shutter speed did you use for this shot? 

[thebeardedgroundsman]

I used my Sony 70-400 G (a mount) mounted on an A6500 via an EA1 adapter (so equivalent to 600mm)

f:5.6 (widest at this zoom length) and 1/1000 Second.

Stabilisation turned on, and mounted on my trusty monopod.

The colour is accurate, but the purple shows up because of the low evening light.

I find a lot of "black" birds show a bit of colour to certain light. An ornithologist told me, the pigment is black but the angle of the filaments in the feathers can change the hue.