Confrontational Grasshopper Sparrow.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Trying some audio on this delightlful little sparrow species did not produce much at first on this outing...just as I was about to shut down the player out pops this individual from directly underneath the perch, buzzes his song once, and disappears back into the long grass. Thank you little guy! I was hoping to get a bird on this perch with the short pines in the BG providing some intererst to the BG...

Canon 7D +100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/400s., f/6.3, ISO 400 (histogram checked), natural light, handheld, small crop top left and right for comp, negated a heavy greenish cast via Color Balance and Selective Colour.

[Jack Breakfast]

I very much like the composition: bird in the middle, soothing o.o.f. pines on either side. You have created a good world of greens. And: audio wins again! That sparrow thought there was a rival around, and you were rewarded with a striking pose indeed. An evocative photograph.

[Rachel Hollander]

Daniel - nice singing pose and I also like the oof pines so don't mind the central placement here. Nicely done.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sachin Saraf]

Daniel, Loved this one...beautiful calling pose and OOF pines brings balance to this frame and hence central placement works nicely. You use calls very effectively.

[Lorant Voros]

Daniel. I like that you go a bit against the rules with this central placement, though I could imagine a vertical crop too. Good head on singing, nice perch and great BG. TFS.

[dankearl]

Interesting comp for sure, Daniel and the tonsil shot is great, I still think a vertical would look good, although you
would lose the grasses, so I can see why you did the Landscape comp.

[Carmelo Cannova]

I have never been lucky with these little guys. This kind of shots will boost my perseverance.

Carmelo

[annmpacheco]

Love this. It is dreamy and in your face along comes the beautiful song, I absolutely can hear it looking at your image.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. I just love the singing pose, excellent perch, and very nice background. I really like the comp.
Very well done.

[Shawn Zierman]

I like some of the features of the bird shown with the head on view, the crown and lores in particular.
The image features sharp details and nicely diffused light. The bird's pose, and definitely the perch,
suggest that a vertical presentation would have been stronger. I've seen few mullein perches featured
in a horizontal presentation that look good...no exception here imo.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent shot, Daniel.
This species responds to the call fairly well.
My experience was that it would show up when you stop playing and would sing a victory song.
My wife interpretation would be;
"Look honey I chased the intruder away"

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the calling pose and perch. A vert works much better here IMO

[Giuseppe Varano]

Nice calling pose and amazing background with the short pines that context the habitat.