White - throated sparrow

[Wendy Kates]

I usually post on Eager to Learn, but since this image of a white-throated sparrow fits this month's theme, I decided to try posting here. Critiques are welcome.

The image was captured in the early evening, while the sparrow was hunting for birdseed in the mulch of my garden.

Canon Rebel Xsi
300mm f/4 lens with 1.4 extender, shot at 480 mm
ISO 400
f / 5.6
1/160s
Induro tripod with ball head
Sharpened in Raw and cropped about 25%

[Gary Esman]

Like the curious look and the detail in the eye, cute little fella. Nice low angle of shooting here. Amazing sharpness for 1/160, great job! I might tone down the white areas in the background. Keep em coming.

Gary.

[Paul Lagasi]

Nice image, well captured. This might look good as a verticle crop also...Well done

[Richard Unsworth]

Cute, good IQ and pose; another vote for vertical here

taken in US?
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[Wendy Kates]

Thanks for all your helpful critiques. Gary...I didn't notice until now how distracting the white areas in the background are. Paul and Richard...I'll try the vertical crop. Although when I tried to post a vertically cropped image here recently, I got an error message that the photo didn't have the correct dimensions...have any of you had that problem? Richard...yes, the image was captured in Upstate NY.
--Wendy