Prairie Skirmish (or "What'd You Call Me?)

I haven't used audio very much, but have tried it on a few outings over the past several weeks, sometimes with more success than I'd counted on. While I was photographing one Prairie Warbler, a second one joined in the fun, and I was lucky to get them both in the frame. After this shot, I stopped the use of the audio, not wanting to interfere with the social order of the Prairies. Pruned out a distracting branch, ran NR and smoothed out the BG, levels and USM on the birds. Dodged the face of the RH bird, which was partially shaded. C&C appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 1000, 1/640s @ f/7.1 manual, fill @ -1.7 EV, tripod, audio.

This is very cool Bill. Their interaction is great. Nice use of flash, perch is very nice except the OOF leaf in the FG. Looks like you've been having a blast with your migrants.

Thanks Lyle. Actually, Prairie Warblers are among the few warbler species that breed here during the summer months, but I'd never had a good encounter with them before. I wish my Photoshop skills were up to the challenge of the oof leaf in the center of the frame, but I couldn't figure what to do with it, other than burn the end of it a bit to make it less distracting.

Great capture Bill! Love the interaction between the two birds! Nice use of the flash, and it's barely noticeable.

nice image,good interaction with the birds,great BG and light.

great interaction! can almost hear their voices. lovely comp, details & BG.

Nice image
the interaction looks good and nicely captured
great details and lovely BG

Bill Sir,
Love the calling poses of both birds, very nice colors, lights,details and superb composition.

Regards,
Satish.

Very unique image. What I enjoy most is how well the whole bird can be seen by looking at both subjects. I also enjoy the intensity of the interaction. Sure it's a bit artificially induced in this case...a bit of the darkside of using audio with birds on territory I suppose...but it's an excellent representation of interactions between rival males that undoubtedly takes place all the time.

Thanks everyone.