Rufous Fieldwren (Calamanthus campestris)

Made a little trip to Northern Victoria, Australia, on the weekend. Didn't really get what I wanted and had to settle with just a few images, but I still managed to get three new species.
Here's one of them.
I actually got lucky with this bird. I went to an almost dry salt lake to look for Rufous Fieldwrens. I had already given up and was on the way back to the car, when this Rufous Fieldwren popped up on a plant next to me. Unfortunately it was between me and the sun. I wanted to try nevertheless. So I dropped everything I carried in my hands and extended my tripod legs while I walked a big loop around the bird. To my great surprise the bird did not fly away, as it had done numerous times before. Instead it started to sing again... Lucky I guess...
It was just 1°C/32°F outside when I took this image. Something many people wouldn't expect to experience in Australia :)

You can see a few more images from that trip on my Blog

1D Mark IV
600 L IS
1.4x TC III
ISO 800
F8
1/500

Very nice Jan, lovely natural composition and love the calling pose....sounds like the same salt lake I went looking for these late last year in northern Victoria...but never so much as caught a glimpse

Great portrait of this species, HA excellent with good eye contact. Love the BG and how it complements the lovely rich honey browns of the bird.

Great calling pose, super details on the bird
i love the way the eye looks
perch and the BG are nice

Magnificent image.Beautiful composition,nice lights,colors and details.
I like the smooth BG too.

Regards,
Satish.

Perfect comp and bg, nice work.