Singing Aquatic Warbler

[Ivan Sjogren]

Don't know if this is a new species to BPN but it's a rare European gem either way. The Aquatic Warbler is considered vulnerable with probably about 80% of world population concentrated in relatively small area restricted to a special type of reeds in NE Poland and SW Belarus. I made a trip to these areas for a week only to search for the Aquatic Warbler last spring. Despite searching four days over vast areas of reeds we didn't find a single singing male. The movie like ending came the second to last day when we found four pairs in the final hours of the day.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | Canon 500mm f/4 II IS L USM L | ISO 600 | 1/2000s | f/5.6 | Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CC, cropped from horizontal.

All comments and critique very much appreciated!

[John Mack]

Nice back story. The light is very sweet and i like the calling pose. Always nice to see a new bird. Background is very nice.

[Isaac Grant]

Great bird, pose and background. I really like the out of focus grass stalk that balances the front one very nicely. Bird would benefit from a bit more sharpening on the head (smart sharpen at maybe 50% and .3) and I would lower the yellows in the throat area a little

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lovely bird and perch. I like the vertical comp you chose here. I know Isaac likes it, but I'm not a fan of the oof grass - it is too bright for me and pulls me eye to it. Perhaps toning it down would improve it? Good image in any regards.

[Alex Becker]

Nice calling pose and perch. Vertical works great here. I'm 50/50 on the OOF perch. If there were more in the BG I think it would help balance, but the single large one is a bit distracting. Overall very nice though. TFS

[Arthur Morris]

All good stuff above. What bugs me the most is the single round ??? above and to the right of the subject; I'd lose that one for sure.

with love, artie