One man's trash....

[Shawn Zierman]

.....became my treasure. Someone decided to dump a large brush pile near Lake Superior this year. Ironically, the yard waste recycling plant is nearby and this much brush would only cost 4$ to get rid of but.....when I saw where it was located, I recognized the potential immediately. The brushpile has become a nice make shift bird feeding station that has attracted several species of birds that are migrating through Minnesota. It's placement near water helped to draw 100+ Rusty Blackbirds to the brush pile feeder for several days. For this image, I experimented with placing the seed right behind the brush pile while using the pile to cut down on my profile to photograph the birds at eye level as they came in to eat some strategically placed cracked corn. Rusty Blackbirds are in significant decline in North America for a variety of reasons, so to have so many rusties coming to the feeder was especially sweet....Canon7d, Sigma50/500os, iso800, f8, 1/1000, cropped, small amount of surface blur applied to the bg, selective USM to the bird. Comments and critiques welcome.
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.

[Robert Kimbrell]

Beautiful Shawn. Excellent colors and background. You did well with the head turn. I might to try blending the blade of grass that merges with his left leg.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle which gives you that nice OOF strip in the FG and complimentary OOF BG. The body angle and HA are perfect as well as the sharpness. I'm okay with the OOF grasses in front of the bird. Excellent image Shawn!

[Marina Scarr]

The bird shows up very nicely here and the OOF grass really isn't detracting too much. The vegetation on the right balances the image nicely. Love the eye on the bird and very nice details.

[gail bisson]

I love how well you have shown the iridescence of the feathers.
The light is beautiful as well.
Good details on the face and great low POV. I like the way the grasses frame the bird, just wish the one crossing the wing and tail wasn't there.
Gail

[Jerome Berthelemy]

Love it !
Rust colors and details of the feathers are gorgeous !!!

Well done :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Way to take advantage of an opportunity! Great light, super nice low angle, and I like the matching colours of the BG to the subject. You could always burn the brighter blade croosing the subject just to reduce its luminosity, but no biggie.

I did not know the guys took cracked corn, or any offered food for that matter...gonna have to use that next year!