Orchard Oriole on new growth Tamarack

[Mike Lentz]

Spring has been good so far, many cool species coming into the area where I live which is nice for keeping the travel costs down a bit. Here is a male Orchard Oriole on an emerging Tamarack tree branch near my backyard feeder.

http://www.pbase.com/mike_lentz/image/150602602.jpg

Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius)

Nikon D300 ~ Nikon 200-400mm F/4
ISO 400 ~ F/5.6 ~ 1/250 sec ~ fill flash a - 2 1/3

[PhilCook]

What a wonderful composition with the dainty little tree cones and the curvature of the branch perfect. Some detail showing through in the blacks so exposure looks quite good and side on profile and dof extra good. For my tastes I find the backdrop a little too colorful and bright, but certainly has the makings of a lovely greeting card image.....nicely done

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice shot.
Terrific perch, great pose, and well composed.
The background is just a tad bright.
Still a great shot.
Well done.

[Marina Scarr]

Mike this is truly a stunning image. Love everything about it esp that perch and BG. Those cones are just over the top. Great angle on your bird and nice, subtle use of flash.