Dartford Warbler

[Rich Steel]

Hi

For many years I have wanted to see one of these birds and more recently wanted to photograph one. They are a scarce bird in the UK and at the northern limit of their range and so restricted to the southern part of the country. They are also very vulnerable to cold winters and we have just had the worst for 30 years!.

I was down south last week and came up with a plan to try and find and photograph these birds. I had identified a likely area from a bit of prior web research and arrived on the extensive heathland area at first light. The birds are shy and skulk around in gorse bushes. On arrival I was met by acres upon acres of gorse bushes and started thinking that an encounter was unlikely given that I only had a couple of hours spare. However, luck was on my side and I heard a male singing and soon found a pair. The male was regularly coming up on to the top of the gorse bushes and singing giving me some opportunities to take some photos.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/dartfordwarbler201041.jpg

Taken with 1DmkIV with 500mm lens and 1.4TC handheld at ISO 500 F7.1 and 1/800s.

Cheers

Rich

[Randy Stout]

Rich:

Nice when a plan comes together!

Sharp, well exposed, nice colors in bird and BG.

The gorse makes for a bit of a busy background, but I suspect a clean shot of these guys is very difficult.

I might consider a version where I cropped in from the left to eliminate the bulk of the left most branch, or alternately, a version with the luminosity of that branch brought down a bit more to downplay its effect.

Nice capture!

Randy

[Bruce Enns]

As Randy has said, it's very nice when a plan comes together. Very sharp, great details in bird, nice complementary colours in bird and background. I agree that burning the brighter branch directly behind the bird would improve an already great shot.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Stu Bowie]

Rich, the little guy is so sharp, and I like the angle of pose. Lovely colours through out, and just find the right a tad tight at the tail.

[Gal Shon]

What a stuuning Warbler...
The setting, light and BG makes this a outstanding image.
Sharpness, singing pose and Comp adds a lot to it too.

[Cal Walters]

Love the image & agree w/comments - especially the crop from the left.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, I'm not sure I have seen this species before. Light, angle, singing pose and BG make this one for me. I might remove the OOF plant sticking out of the back.

[Rich Steel]

Many thanks for the comments and suggestions. Looking at the image again I can see the distraction caused by the vegetation behind the bird.

Cheers

Rich