Another Virginia Rail

[Stephen Stephen]

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s219/Squidcan/Birds2/VirginiaRail08_10.jpg

Canon 40D, Sigma 50-500mm @ 266mm on BushHawk 320 Pro with Fill flash. ISO 640, F7.1, 1/160 sec. Cropped to about 60% of full frame. A couple of green leaves were cloned out of the foreground.

I've been travelling for work for a while so I've not had much time for photography. I created this image last Saturday at one of our local nature trails. There seem to be are lot of Virginia Rails in this particular marsh. Some started calling so I used a recording for a short period of time to draw this one briefly out into an open area.

The angle is high but I was on a boardwalk and I had to photograph over some cattails. The head angle is not the greatest either but I was just pleased to get a clean image in the open.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, I would be happy to see this species sometime. Exposure and details look good. I'm afraid it's not easy to get a cleaner BG and it is not distracting.

[Robert Amoruso]

You did well with a hard species to find. With rails, snipes and the like, this is where you find them so the BG are what they are - it this case BG is AOK.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Great capture Stephen and well composed. Love the eye contact in this image and congrats on finding this elusive bird.

[Gus Cobos]

Good composition and great capture. sharp details and wonderfull colors. I like the eye contact. The background does not bother me considering how hard it is to find one of these little guys. Lets call the background HABITAT....:):D:p;):cool: good show...:cool:

[Arthur Morris]

Ecellent self critique. Otherwise a nice image of a difficult species.

[Stephen Stephen]

Thank you Axel, Robert, Judy Gus and Artie.

[John Chardine]

Very nice Stephen. I've been trying for these but no luck this season. Haven't tried calling them in yet. Love the rich browns in the bird and the BG.