Shameless crop!

[Milo Burcham]

Groove-billed Anis
Costa Rica

No bones about it, this is a huge crop (from 4300 to 1600 pixels!) and although this image lacks in technical merits, I love this "flock" of anis. I am also curious what we're seeing; is it a fledging group of chicks or a social group of adults that roosted overnight together??? Shot from a canoe in low light.
Anyway, I hope the subject matter is worth something here. If nothing else, it is subject matter for my wife to paint from!

Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Date/Time: 2008:03:26 05:39:12
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: External E-TTL
Flash exposure compensation: -1 2/3
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 1250
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal length: 320mm
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Image size: 4368 x 2912
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto

[Philip Lombard]

Very interesting shot, hard to get 6 together. To bad the foilage fights it a little. A jump in AV would have had all eyes sharp, but it is a great shot anyway.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ha! That is too cute! Agree about the foliage, but even more bothersome to me is the very bright arched branch cutting off all the toes. I'm sure your wife will make great work based on this photograph :-)

[Jim Poor]

What a great group! Technical-Schmechnical! I like it as is :D

[John Chardine]

Very nice! The birds are such a strong focal point that I hardly notice the foliage. These look like just-fledged chicks to me. Anis have a very interesting social structure where young birds from previous years come back and help their parents raise the current crop of young.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Milo!

I also enjoy this very much! Made me smile ... very cute! You can say that this is a study for the HAP!!

[Raul Quinones]

I like as is.
I wonder how many people will not have press the shutter or deleted the file beacuse "the huge crop"?

[Trey Barron]

This beats the pants off of my huge crop ani shots. Nice work on getting at least one eye from all the birds.

[Andrew George]

Wow a lovely pack! Sorry about the OOF green leaves in the foreground.