Fork-tailed Flycatcher

[Bill Dix]

Taken from a slowly moving boat in the marsh at Lamanai, Belize last month. Removed several branches on the left. Wish I had caught him in flight; they are really spectacular when they fly. I only had one chance, and with him going one direction and the boat in the other, I cut his head off. Still I was pleased to get several images of him perched. C&C always appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/6.3 manual.

[douglas hayes]

The thin branch perch works well fr me and excellent details and BG. I like it all. TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

What a beautiful bird, great capture and post processing. If mine I might try to clone out the out of focus branch in the center but certainly wonderful as is.

[Karl Egressy]

Great capture of a rare to find bird in ABA territory, Bill. Seen it only once in Texas.

[William Dickson]

Very nice image Bill. Well done

[gail bisson]

What a great bird and what a difficult bird to compose for!
You did a good job with the comp and light exposure.
If you already cloned out a lot of branches then I would keep on trimming and get rid of the plant in the BG.
Gail

[Glenn Conlan]

Very nice, but the branch in the BG is taking away from a fantastic image

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image of beautiful bird with such long tails. Very nicely exposed on whites and blacks.
I like the composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Another long-tailed beauty!! I just commented on one a few posts down:c3:. A toughie to compose too with not too many options...with this being a good choice. That thin perch goes very well with the tail. I would not have the patience to clone out that large oof branch in the BG but maybe smoothen it a bit more would work, especially the top and bottom parts of the vertical branch.

[Grace Scalzo]

I am so taken in by this image, full of interest with the little bird and that huge tail. Nicely composed, Bill. I see a bit of banding creeping in a few places (Mostly left side, above tail), suspect Mr Jpeg at work.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Expertly composed. Beautiful bird. Nothing not to like here!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

One of my all-time favorite flycatchers!
And with such a nice background, light and pose. So glad you were able to pull this one out.

[David Salem]

What a great looking bird and that tail, very cool. Nice work capturing him and the exposure and detail look great. I like the comp and I agree about the plant in the BG. The image is nice enough and unique enough that it would be worth the 10 min that it would take to remove it properly. Well done Bill

[arash_hazeghi]

what a tail and a pose...love the details. The oof branch in the BG is a bit distracting but everything else is perfect.

[Bill Dix]

OK. I get the message. I had thought about cloning out the oof branch, but persuaded myself that it added some interest and context. There seems to be a consensus that it is actually a distraction. So here's a version with the branch removed. Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.

[David Salem]

Sweet