Female Red-Winged Blackbird Singin Away

Canon 1D Mark IV
Gitzo/Wimberley
From a blind

700mm
ISO 800
1/2500 sec
f/5.6

I miss being on here but now that spring is in full swing, every available moment I have I am out shooting. This is from this morning. The female RWBBs just came back a couple days ago, and I took advantage of a blind I have up at a pond to get some shots of her singing. Once nesting gets underway, I rarely see the females at all.
I know it's not the most exciting bird, but one of my passions is showcasing the beauty of birds many consider commonplace and don't take the time to capture. I hope you like it.
Thanks so much in advance for all comments and critiques.

She has attitude, Melissa! Love the details and the pose!

Love the energetic singing pose, well exposed and sharp. the BG is awesome. I would like to see this as a vertical with more of the cattail showing or at least more room top and bottom of this one.

I like the females better than the males.
Great BG and classic pose.

Maybe common in your area but I never this bird before :)
Love the call pose, excellent sharpness and details, beautiful background as well. Agree that vertical crop might work as well.

Always nice when the ladies return. (The bird and you. :w3). I love her singing pose and grip on the cattail. The light and background are certainly sweet. I might play with the comp and see how a trim from the left grabs you.

Most of the time, we see the male, rarely the female, :) one of the species that many neglected to photograph but you have captured the singing pose very well.

Must of been a good song as she seems to be singing her heart out, Great clean and sharp shot, although I think another pass of sharpening could be added. Love the com on the seed head and smooth earthy backdrop.....if I was to be picky I'd suggest it to be even better if the eyes were directed more towards the camera

Ok, here's another go, this time a vertical, and with a bit more sharpening. Thanks for all the feedback!

I'm really digging the singing pose Melissa, this gal is trying her best at imitating her male counterparts it seems! Nice perch, BG. I do prefer the toned down highlights of the OP, and for the vertical the subject would need to be higher in the frame IMO. Having said this, I do prefer the OP's comp, but I agree in trimming a bit at left. I would also work on the reflection on the eye as it seems a tad odd to me. Details look good to me! Very nice overall...

Like the singing pose and the excellent detail. Better eye contact would have improved the image. And I would include more of the perch in your crop.

Magnificent singing pose you have captured. Love the pose with slightly raised wings and fanned tail. Bg colors are nicely complimenting with birds colors.
I like the re post with vertical crop.

Regards,
Satish.

excellent detail,perch,BG and very nice singing pose.

Excellent pose, perch & BG. Agree with above comments about crop suggestions.

Thanks all, for the excellent, useful feedback as usual. Here's one last repost, with some cropped off left, more of perch showing, perch toned down a bit, and the eye clouding removed. I also removed the tip of the reed as it bugged me being in line with the wing.

I'm not saying this is better or worse, I prefer the vertical composition because of the perch.
The balance is not what I would choose due to working with less perch than I would desire.
My point is I don't mind a body on the tight side if the head / eyes are looking into the negative space.
Just food for thought.Attachment 127904