Female Bobolink

[Geoffrey Montagu]

We're having some scorching summer heat here in central NJ, but it's somewhat bearable in the late afternoons. I found the shade of cedar tree, yesterday next to a field in a local preserve near me. There were many tall green plants that looked as if they would make good perches. Within a few minutes two female Bobolinks flew in and landed right where I had pre focused. Of course a slight breeze came in as I started capturing images, which felt great, and lent a slight bend to the tops of the plants. C&C welcome.

D7000, 500mm + 1.4x tc, 1/500, f 8.0, ISO 640, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal head.


Geoffrey

[Karl Egressy]

Looks great. Nice pose and nice natural perch. The bird pops against the green background.

[Grace Scalzo]

Nice how the one branch is bending under her weight. Lovely color scheme. Looks like you lifted the shadow on the bird's belly which is causing some grain..maybe try a lighter hand?

[Randy Stout]

Geoffrey

Good comments already. I might try to tone down the green color cast on the bird a bit. Nice that they cooperated for you.

I could also see a version with a bit of crop from the right, personal taste really.

Cheers

Randy

[David Salem]

I like this one. The greens throughout the scene look great. The exposure and detail are perfect too. Yes to toning down the green in the bird a bit but a sweet frame none the less.

[Bill Dix]

Nice pose and good detail on a very hard-to-get species. Once you've used the D7000 for a while, it will be interesting to get your observations on the trade-off between this and your full-frame bodies. Is what we're seeing here the result of greater reach vs more noise? Or maybe not; there shouldn't be much noise at ISO 640 unless the shadows were brightened as Grace suggests.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks Everyone for your comments.




Geoffrey

[Daniel Cadieux]

Really nice Those grasses depict the habitat. I like the greens too, very vivid. Good to see a female Bobolink as we do not get to view them so much compared to the bold and loud males. Noise on the belly noted, and I kinda wish the brighter patch in the BG at left was green too.