Western Kingbird

Caught this Kingbird taking off of a fence post last winter. We get a nice migratory group of these birds every winter at my local refuge. They sit on the fence posts along side a dirt road and hunt insects.
I usually drive to a descent distance to one, then set my self up to try to catch it taking off or coming back to the post. Takes a bit of patience to wait for the exact moment when it launches, lots of frustration too :)

1DMKIV---700mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH@8:25am from car---40% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. Appreciated.

David

David,

Always tough to track shooting out of a car, especially when it's tracking small birds like these. I can imagine the frustration, like you mentioned, of having to wait for take-off.

The SS seems to be high enough, but the image is just a tad soft (focus/tracking maybe?). Neat to see a full view of that yellow belly though.

Miguel

Great take off pose and I like the underwing and undertail detail. The tail angle is really sweet. Focus looks proper, I think you could be a bit more aggressive with the sharpening in post. The eye looks quite sharp to me, but the plumage does look like it needs another round of USM. I love how well this image reminds me of the Says Phoebe image of yours with a similar pose and background. They would look excellent together in article on flycatchers or pictures on the wall...

excellent pose and sweet light. nice BGT too. I agree it looks a bit soft as presented, perhaps try another round of sharpening.

it's a very tough subject with lots of speed!!!

Great light and flight pose.

Definitely a tough subject, and made all the more challenging because you were shooting out of a car. I like the full wings up position, the dangling feet, and the way the tail feathers are twisted slightly towards you. I do agree that the image could stand a bit more sharpening though.

Great bird and background. I question the sharpness of the original capture. You can try sharpening more but the head looks slightly oof and in my experience, you can't get that back. Also the bird is jumping away. My personal nit (that is an easy fix) is your heavy signature. Perhaps just reduce the opacitiy of it. I like seeing people's names on their photos but not when it competes with the image.

Beautiful take off pose with full wings up.Beautiful colors, lights,BG and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

Beautiful bird and an excellent take off shot of it, David.

A high degree of difficulty here, and it is almost pulled off! I say "almost" because the subject appears to be a bit soft and hard to say if it is a sharpening issue or an as-captured issue (as Grace mention's). I do love the pose, colours, comp.

Great job getting this from the car. Love the colors and I bet you have an even better one coming!

Great shot!!!
I really like the pose and great comp.
Agree on the softness, but still a great shot.
Well done.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate the input on this shot. I processed this one about a year ago and didnt think much about posting it because I figured it was pretty sharp.
Got home this evening and went to the original file to maybe reprocess it and repost but found that it is a little soft on the feathers even though the head is pretty sharp. It looks ok in a looser comp but at this tight of a comp it dose look soft on the feathers and sharpening isnt going to fix it.
Like Daniel said, almost pulled it off. Gives me something to keep shooting for.... :)

Beautiful shot. I like the open wings and the soft light and colors. I agree with the others about a bit more sharpening.

Markus