Tree Swallow at Nest.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I found a great Tree Swallow nest, one that is not man-made, and one that is pretty darn gnarly too. The actual nest hole is just below the frame but at the moment the male and female go in and out from the open top that we see here. Pretty cool if you ask me! Now to find the time to check up on it periodically...easier said than done!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, just about FF, eye work, darkened the brightest areas of the perch, NR to the BG and oof parts of the tree.

[gail bisson]

Love the IQ and the bird. I like the wing and tail position in particular. Perfect look back pose.
I might come in from the right as I find the green pulls my eye away from the beautiful bird.
The gnarly tree is nice but I do wish you could get more of it within DOF ( which would be impossible I know, but sure would be nice!)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great eye contact, well positioned in the frame. Everything came together really nicely. I am not for one to normally fiddle with image bits, but the dark spots (one in front of the tail and one towards the ULC) are just drawing my eyes away a lot. Perhaps I would retouch those spots. Up to you.
A really excellent image overall.

[Shawn Zierman]

Very nice location for the nest...it's nice to see the tree swallow inhabiting it's namesake :) Great details and color on the bird. Solid handholding technique to get this type of sharpness at that shutter speed. Here's hoping their nest succeeds and you have further opportunities to photograph the family!

[Karl Egressy]

Great to have one at a natural cavity nest oppose to nest box. The nesting tree snag looks great so does the bird. Great work, Daniel.