Field Sparrow

[Bill Dix]

I went out in search of sparrows last week. Walking through the grasslands for several hours I must have heard 30 Field Sparrows singing their signature song. Almost all of them calling from the invasive Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) plants that have taken over the fields. But I couldn't get close to them. It was 9:30 before I found this guy in a good position, and the sun was getting pretty high.

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4, ISO 640, 1/1600s @ f/7.1 manual, tripod

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Bill! I like the perch, pose and clean BG. I could see a version with a little more room in front of the Sparrow. I was out chasing birds around the fields today as well.

[Paul Lagasi]

A nice phot Bill, I am amazed at the difference in the bill color....of our eastern birds and yours. Agree with a bit more room, just so bird isn't so centered but nice capture, pose and background...TFS

[dankearl]

Nice, Blll, I have been looking for sparrows all month, they are never where I want them.
The perch is so nice it looks like a set-up.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the pose and the composition, a very natural looking image, for me the bird is a tad bright, I have taken the liberty of modifying the image, I selected the bird using the magnetic lasso, then I used curves, selected the centre point and just lowered it a couple of notches.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Bill, not easy to capture these birds. I really liked the background here...so much better than just blue sky. details look good as well.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for looking, and for the helpful comments.

Paul and Jim: I agree that I should have left a bit of room to the left. Sometimes I get hung up on keeping a 3:2 format, when a slight adjustment would be better for the image.

Jonathan: Thanks for taking the time. It appears that your tweaking lowered the contrast just a bit, which helped to mitigate the harsh light of the OP.

I'll go back to the master file and incorporate these suggestions when I get a chance.

[Karl Egressy]

I like this sparrow. Beautiful image, Bill.