That's courage

[Rosl Roessner]

The tiny sparrow was very courageous, trying to drive the blackbird away.
I used flashlight and was surprised that the shutter speed was fast enough the capture the sparrow sharp enough in the picture.

Mark III 500mm/L IS Flashlight
1/200 sec / f 6.3 / ISO 1600

[David Steele]

A lovely image Rosl. The raindrops make it for me. Well done!

[Stephen Stephen]

Beautifully captured Rosl. I really like the interaction and the rain drops flying from the sparrow towards the blackbird. I presume that its caused by the smaller bird's wingbeats.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

highly original and nicely composed
you're determined to test the weather-proofing on the camera and lens

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Now that is one bold sparrow. I like the interaction and blurred wings.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Exceptional image:D Brilliant flash work and great originality!

[Marko Matesic]

Great action....really brave bird ;)
Well captured!

[Tony Whitehead]

Great shot - love the action and ?raindrops ?snow flakes - I would crop a little from the right of the image

[Jim Neiger]

Given the shutter speed, the sharpness of the sparrow is amazing. The interaction is very cool. I too, would crop a bit from the right.

[Rosl Roessner]

Thank you for your nice comments; I'm quite happy, that you seem to like the picture.
I followed your advice and made a tighter crop at the right side.
Better like that?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This one looks even better since the interaction is emphasized.

[Rich Steel]

Hi Rosl

A really great composition with the atmosphere of the rain and the interaction between the birds. Those house sparrows are brave birds and I have seen one in our back garden trying to dive bomb a sparrowhawk which is not very sensible. I think the compostion would benefit from losing some of the empty space at the right of the frame.

Cheers

Rich

[Tony Whitehead]

repost looks good:)

[Terry Eddington]

Great action - wonderful story. The repost with crop really puts it over the top for me.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

like the repost a lot better - amazing what difference about 100 pixels can make
nice job

[Jody Melanson]

Great interaction going on here! The crop is much better.

I have seen and photographed these House Sparrows while they attacked Purple Martins repeatedly. They will kill Bluebirds while the Bluebirds are on the nest and then the House Sparrow's have been known to build their own nest on the corpse.