Rusty Blackbird

[Geoffrey Montagu]

I captured this image a couple of days ago on a local rivers edge. Always looking for the Rusty Blackbirds whenever I've been in their environment. I had been told that eight had been spotted at this location, so of course I went immediately and did see at least four take off. Went back the next day without seeing one, but the following day this female (a lifer for me), was foraging around flipping leaves over for the food bits underneath. Her mate was close by, but he stayed behind a lot of branches.

This is one of North Americas most rapidly declining species. It's thought that 85-99 percent of the population has dropped in the past forty years. Scientists can't figure out what the cause is.

D4s, Nikon 500mm + 1.4 TC, 1/800s, f 8.0, ISO 3200, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal head.

Removed some distracting twigs in cs6.

Geoffrey

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the simple pose, sharp details, the main issue here is the BG which is quite distracting

TFS

[keith mitchell]

It,s an interesting eye for a Blackbird Geoffrey, bird looks good nice and sharp, agree the BG does draw the eye a bit but that is where it was.

Keith.

[Bill Dix]

Great find. Good sharp details and nice pose. As you say, their feeding habit is flipping over the leaves at the water's edge, so it's to be expected that they're in a habitat somewhat cluttered with leaves. If anything, I find the feather to be more distracting than the bg, but no biggie.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks Arash, Keith, and Bill.



Geoffrey