Azure winged magpie

[Pepe Reigada]

The azure-winged magpie (Cianopica cyana) is a colonial corvid common in the Southwest of Península Ibérica with a very interesting distribution. It can be found only in two areas in the world, Península Ibérica and China. I photographed this guy in the nearby of Parque Nacional de Doñana (Huelva) in the southwest of Spain, one of the best birding places in Europe.
D300 * 500f4VR * tripod * full frame * natural light *f: 9 * S: 1/500

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautiful bird and great details. I find the perch beautiful but rather large and would add canvas at the top and bottom (which is tricky since it is full frame). I also wish for a bit more head turn toward you. Thanks for sharing!

[Tony Whitehead]

Gorgeous colours and textures offset against the lovely smooth BG. Aperture control perfect to cover bird and still render BG smooth. Agree with Axel that a little more room and a head turn would be nice. I think a little selective work to brighten the eye a little would add to the image.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Eso Pepe!
Muy bella toma, la nitidez y la luz hacen que parezca que esta bella ave se quiera salir del monitor!
Me encanta tu foto, mas pienso que la has dejado muy apretada en la parte inferior izquierda, tal vez un poco mas de espacio ahi ya que parece que la cola pega con el marco. Por lo demas muy buena.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a beautiful bird!! I think the perch looks great...the longish nature of the bird and lenght of its' tail make the size of the perch OK with me. The comp feels well balanced, but I still agree a bit more room would have been good. Bummer about the head angle though - hope you have a frame with it at least parallel to the sensor!

[Juan Aragonés]

Wow Pepe, this is much better than our last attemp to photograph these guys. The rendering of the details in the plumage is outstanding and I know that you do not have more room to add at the top because this one is full frame but it would be great with a litle bit more room at the top. Excelent processing job. Tony did a very good job adding light to the eye but I would keep the eye like in the original because this species has a very dark eye.