Crawling With Snow Buntings.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I recently came across a small flock of 10 of these guys in an spot that almost always has them this time of year before they move on to agricultural areas for the winter months. Many times using audio works well to get them to come closer but on this occasion they simply ignored it. I had to resort to good ol'fashioned fieldcraft to get closer. The first 20 minutes or so that I crawled in the grass they kept their distance, just out of reach. I moved a foot, they did too (all the while feeding on short grass seeds). After that they accepted me as part of the landscape and I was able to manoeuvre pretty much as I wished as long as I remained low and slow. Think shorebird bird photography, that is pretty much how it felt! Here I was fortunate that this individual stopped in front of some hardy flowers.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/400s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, small crop to help the comp, eye works, two distracting brighter elements in the BG blended out via cloning.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice low perspective, nice fall colors and the flower is a nice new element introduced to the scene. I wish the brownish leaf wasn't in front of the flower though. Well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I appreciate the time and effort it must have taken, I have done similar in previous years.
The image is beautifully exposed and well detailed but I am sorry to say this one doesn't quite ring my bell. Too much of the bunting is obscured for me - sorry.

[Isaac Grant]

Sweet looking bird. I like the very delicate look of this image, the very pleasing color palette and the flowers very much. I agree that I wish the brown leaf was not there and that a little more of the bird was showing. Also think it is a little tight on the right hand side where it looks like the tail is almost cut off.

[keith mitchell]

I like the low pose you have caught with the bird among that nice vegetation,all lovely colours,not sure that the brown leaf would have bothered me if it had not been pointed out.very nice job.