Yellow-headed Blackbird

[David Salem]

Caught this beautiful male this spring in a reed bed while guarding his nest. I stood outside my car for a few hours and watched as he flew in and out of the reeds defending his nest from the Red-winged Black Birds that were trying to nest there too.
Managed to get a few keepers with non blue BGs. I like this one with the feet hanging down and the green BG.

1DMKIV---700mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH@4:35pm---25% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. Appreciated.

David

[dankearl]

Another terrific flight photo, David.
You have become a master of these.
The BG , feet and tail spread are very nice.

[stuart wanuck]

Well done nice capture for your 2 hr wait!

[Diane Miller]

Fantastic catch -- we'll worth the wait. After that much time, I would have missed the decisive moment.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments.
I was at the spot for a few hours but I was shooting almost the whole time, hundreds of frames. YHBBs, RWBBs, Swallows and anything else that would fly into range.. Hundreds of frames to get 3-4 keepers... Its a good upper body workout though :)
Thanks again

[PhilCook]

Well timed and great wing/tail feather form, those dangling feet and talons look extra good, so sharp in more ways than one. Contrasting nicely against the simple backdrop....nicely done David, worth the effort.

Can relate to a good upper body workout...but in my case I have just damaged my shoulder trying to hold up the 500mm from the kayak too much, off to see the Doctor tomorrow

[David Salem]

Sorry Phil. I Had a similar injury happen last summer. Went Tern crazy and was going out 3-4 times a week shooting over 1000 frames per evening. Took a month of minimal shooting to finally get some normal sleep. Good luck.

[vishaljadhav]

Beautiful image, the IQ is great and the super green BG sets up the black and yellow bird up very nicely
i love the way the feet are dangling in the air,
The strike rate of 1 keeper per shooting hour is good for me, :S3: ( on sunday drove for 9 hours, searched and came back home after 15 hours, and the lens was not even taken out of the bag)

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose and good details. I like the iridescent colors! the red channel is a bit hot.

[gail bisson]

Well done David!
I like the wing position and the feet dangling against the green BG.
if I had two wishes it would be for a slight head turn towards you and a bit more DOF to get that near wing a bit sharper,
Gail

[Ritesh Nangare]

What A lovely bird, awesome details ,the IQ is well balance.

nothing to Chang for me , i love it as it is.

[Marina Scarr]

Super capture. This bird looks terrific with wings outstretched against that BG. Reds are a tad hot in the head. Love seeing those little talons!

[Loi Nguyen]

David, great light and details on the black. Love the pose, sweet BG. If there is a thing I wish to see would be where he was landing to creat a context or the dangling feet, but love the picture as is. Loi

[Daniel Cadieux]

Terrific pose David! I like the intense colours. Apart from a slightly better head angle you could not have asked for a better flight pose. I also like that there is a bit of yellow at top of the BG.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, very well timed to get this inflight pose - raised wings, jutting tail, and hanging feet. Not easy colours to expose correctly, but you seemed to have nailed that, and of course, popping so well from the BG. Well captured.

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot!!!
Excellent wing position, wonderful background, and excellent details.
Very well done.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments, appreciated

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent flight pose with very wing position you have captured ,David.
Love the pose,beautiful colors, especially orange/yellow on face,very nice details and great composition.

Regards,
Satish.