Chestnut-sided Warbler.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A fun an quite common warbler up here during the breeding season. This particular spot has lots of young and short (and spaced out) cedars that many birds are seen perching in. A touch of audio had this one up in a good spot among one of them.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, just about FF, some eye work, and a couple of bits of branches creeping in at the frame's edges have been removed.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super details and colours Dan, pleasing pose and the branches do not interfere.
I have used a little bird calling this year, not a lot - I don't see a problem in doing this just so long as it is not done too much. I was however strongly rebuked by a birder in a local RSPB reserve, I asked what the problem was and he just went off chuntering no doubt thinking I had no concern for the subject. I get the impression this practice is more acceptable on your side of the pond?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Jon! There are extremists on both sides of the fence here: Those that will treat you as a criminal if you so much as cause a bird to even look at you, and those that will use audio on a bird until the batteries run dry. Done judiciously I see no evidence of this being bad practice. I was once berated by a local birder, only to catch him in the very act a few weeks later...oh, but it was OK for him as it was only to try and ID a bird, not photograph it. Sigh....

[Paul Burdett]

A lovely capture Daniel. I especially like the pose, HA and colours in this bird, and the smooth BG compliments nicely. I must admit that if it were mine I'd remove the diagonal branch going left from the bird's head, but I guess it does balance the green foliage going to the right.
I've also used audio on occasion to attract birds, and have not met with any issues to date. However, it's not something I regularly do.

[Wayne Niz]

Great pic, lovely sharpness and colors, maybe a little digital trickery to get rid of the leaf on the bottom right, it doesn't add any value and is a little distracting?

[dankearl]

Very attractive bird... As long as calls are not used around nesting birds I have no problem....

[John Mack]

Nice pose on the warbler. I do like the cedar branches. Wish the bird was a tad lower with the brach right behind it's head. I know tough birds to photograph though. The background is quite nice.

[Dorian Anderson]

Lovely topside view of this striking bird. I don't mind the green behind the head as this looks like a natural view. Exposure and detail are excellent.

As for taped calls, I am for their limited use. When I lead tours, it's easier to tape a bird out than have ten people go crashing through -- and degrade -- the habitat. The biggest problem is when the same birds are taped over and over.
That most often happens when something interesting takes up residence near a major city. However, when I went to Newfoundland a few years back, I played the tape a fair bit since I knew it was the only tape any of the bird would hear that season -- and maybe ever.

[Arthur Morris]

Very attractive bird... As long as calls are not used around nesting birds I have no problem....

Hi Dan, I am pretty sure that these birds nest where Daniel photographs them.

As for the image, it is a fine one as noted above. Bad luck on having the intersecting branch coming out of the top of his head :(

with love, artie