Gray-crowned & Black Rosy Finches

The recent snowstorm brought 2 unusual individuals to my yard today - a Gray-crowned & a Black Rosy Finch. I photographed from an open window, using the window frame as support. Although I was only 5 feet from the finches, it was very difficult to get the birds in focus since there was a constant veil of snowflakes between the camera and the birds. This is one of the better images. I especially like that it is easy to compare the 2 different species.

I am in northern Colorado, at 8,000 ft, waiting for spring!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 300 f4 L IS, 1/800, f5, exp. comp. +1 1/3, ISO 800.

Nancy:

I like the snow, matching poses, overall exposure. You may be able to tease out a bit more detail from the snow. If you have color efex pro, the detail extractor could help there.

The grasses on the right are a bit distracting against the snow, and I might try a version without, to see how it strikes you.

It snowed here yesterday, but today the peepers came out for the first time, high around 60s. Hurray for springtime.

Cheers

Randy

Randy, I would love to lose the grass, but don't think I have enough to repair the tail. I'll run the image through detail extractor and see what happens to the snow.

Outstanding photo. Lucky you. I'd love a shot at a rosy.

I worked on the suggestions you made Randy. Surprisingly I think I was able to make the tail repair passable. Using detail extractor did find more snow detail, but it was pretty gray and more like blobs. I reduced the effect in front of the birds, but left the added detail below the birds. Your suggestions gave me the extra incentive to work on that tail & grasses. Thanks!

Thank you, Tim. I was thrilled to have the Rosies show up. This is only the 4th time for a Gray-crowned in my yard, and the 1st for the Black Rosy, in the 6 years I've been here.

Nancy:

A sig. improvement to my eyes. Yes, the detail extractor can easily be overdone, but i like where you ended up. There is enough texture around the birds to help ground/anchor the image better.

Cheers

Randy

Magnificent image of two different species together.Re post is excellent.Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

Nice shot of these unique little birds. I like the snow on the beaks and the exposure and the detail. The repost looks great. TFS

Excellent shot, Nancy. RP is great, very clean and properly done. Good job with repairing the tail!

Thank you all. Your comments are much appreciated!