Black-capped Chickadee

[Andrew McLachlan]

80602

Black-capped Chickadee captured at my winter songbird set-up in backyard last winter. There are a few snow streaks visible in this image. This is a vertical crop from a horizontal capture. I thought it worked better this way. Will be setting up my winter blind and perches again very soon. Today we had a brief, but heavy snow flurry. My daughter wanted to know where Santa was :).

Nikon D200
80-400 VR lens @ 400mm (effective focal length 600mm - VR on)
ISO 320 (Nik Dfine used to clean up a little noise)
f8 @ 1/100 sec
Mounted on a loose ballhead bolted down to 2 X 4 inside blind.

Look forward to comments.

[Alan Murphy]

Interesting pose. A little tight in the frame for me. A slight blur of the BG would improve the image and maybe an added catchlight.

[George Zanotti]

I have a 13 year old daughter, and when watching the birds we both call these "black capped killer chickadees". Its one of those inside family jokes that no one remembers the beginning, but it always brings a laugh, and eye roll to how goofy dad is, and an shared experience.

Anyway - I struggle with small birds and have been taking a bit more of them lately.

What strikes me here is that the black cap and eye are well lit and defined. I find that a bit difficult to do. The skin around the eye is quite easy to see, something that I find gets lost in the black feathers often.

The crop is a little tight, but I like enviornmental portraits. Nicely done.

Z

[Andrew McLachlan]

Alan and George, thanks for the comments very much appreciated.