Bird with the Doohicky on its Head

[Marina Scarr]

I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing Gambel's Quail for the first time at Bosque. What a thrill watching these little guys run with their doohickys bouncing every which way. This was photographed in the middle of the day, but the light was quite muted.

Canon 5D, Canon 400 DO
F5.6, 1/800sec, ISO 400, manual mode
Gitzo tripod, Mongoos head

C & C always welcomed and appreciated,

Marina

[Stu Bowie]

Marina, I like the leaning pose, and the detail and colours on the quail. Congrats on your first, so photographing any time of the day to get the shot is the most important thing. However, I do find the BG a tad busy, and the rock seems to have a reddish cast.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, angle, sharpness and eye contact and find the bright area in the upper right a bit distracting. I might just crop a bit off the top.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

the bg looks a bit buzy,beautiful pose,angle,eye contact!

[Myer Bornstein]

I agree with Axel re the bright spot inthe upper right. Both the Gambrel and California Quail are beutiful and it is hard to get a good picture since they like to run fast

[Betsie Storm]

Marina, well captured, I assume they are extremely busy and hard to get the whole bird in one frame. BG adressed above. Thanks for sharing this handsome species, I'm fond of the francolins & quails, they are fun to watch and photograph.

[Mike Tracy]

Cool looking doohicky bird. I am surprised you got one to pose for you and a complimentary rock at that.

Although the background is sort of busy it doesn't bother me. I would address the white area as mentioned and adjust the green foliage to blend in with the rest of the deadish looking background.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I also vote for a crop from above as the bright area in the URC is a little distracting. Well done otherwise. I see what Mike T means about the green leaves. Good pose and nice and sharp. :)