Grey Fantail

[Simon Bennett]

Grey Fantail are friendly little birds of the Australian bush. This one was photographed in a nearby woodland reserve.

Canon 40D, EF500 f/4 + 1.4 tc, tripod, evaluative, ec -2/3, Av, ISO200, f/9, 1/250, a bit cropped from right, also removed an oof twig partly covering perch below bird, and another at upper right corner.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, eye contact and BG. The plumage looks a bit oversharpened on my monitor and I wish for a bit more bill/BG separation.

[Tony Whitehead]

Nice eye contact and BG. Perch looks a little bright so I might tone that down a bit. A bit of a scruffy individual - is this maybe a newly fledged youngster that hasn't quite achieved it's full adult plumage yet?

[Arthur Morris]

I ditto the two excellent critiques above. Could this bird have just finished bathing?

[Simon Bennett]

Thank you all for your comments. Regarding the scruffy state of the plumage, I think it's an immature (indicated by brownish tones) moulting into adult plumage (see the dark grey/white wing coverts and emerging black primary). It's been a long hot summer down here, so no water for bathing at this particular site.