Mockingbird In Concert

D7000 w/Tamron 150-600mm @ 500mm, tripod mounted
ISO 800; f/7.1, 1/3200 sec.; MM -0.33
Std CS6 adjustments; cloned out a few distracting twigs

This mockingbird in one of our weeping cherry trees was singing his heart out for me today. But occasionally, he felt a need to change his position, before resuming his concert. This image captures that.

In the future, I may sacrifice some shutter speed for greater DOF, because the cherry blossoms are not as sharp as I would like them to be. Still, I think this image well captures the behavior of one of my favorite birds.

Norm

Norm:

A pretty dramatic pose, looks like he is yelling at another bird. He is sharp and well exposed

Do agree about your self critique, re: DOF. I also find the framing tends to accentuate the flowers over the bird a bit. I might try a version with a bit off the top and a crop from the left , to create a vertical, accepting that there is no perfect place to crop the flowers.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks, Randy, for your comments and suggestion. This repost is hopefully close to what you had in mind. It has the additional advantage of minimizing the lack of sharpness in some of the blossoms.

Norm

A difficult one but the repost looks fine to me,nice sharp looking bird in a good pose,I like this a lot,thanks for giving us a view.

Keith.

Hi Norm, I really like the action captured and the interesting wing position. I prefer the first post. Sometimes the flowers form part of the overall image and it just creates something out of the ordinary but these things are subjective. If anything I would have liked it even more if there were less flowers and the tail was not obscured. TFS

I prefer the composition in the original post...it grabs me, and is different in a refreshing way. The pose of the bird is so very cool...wing flashing? or singing while wing flashing? The cloning work is a bit too obvious on my monitor, but with just a bit more time and fine tuning invested, seems like it would be easily cleaned up...

Norm:

Good to get all the different opinions. I do prefer the repost personally, but would crop about 1/2 of the free space off above the bird, to play up the feeling of him looking down from above at whomever he is yelling at!


Cheers

Randy

Thanks again, Randy. I always value your opinion.

But actually, this mockingbird was not angry at another bird. He was on his way to repeating part of his singing performance.

He would face right and then left, delivering his song. Then, he would fly down and quickly up again in a loop, perching near where he had been, and again delivering his song.

What I find fascinating about birds is not only their amazing morphological diversity, but their remarkable behavioral traits. They are a joy to observe!

Norm

Norm:

It is fun to observe their carefully choreographed performances. He just appears to be cranky!

Randy

I like the tension in the first post, and agree with Randy on a slight crop from above on that one. Cool pose, and the perch is beautiful (but again I agree, this about more dof). Mockingbirds are really cool...I have a soft spot for them too (but they are rare up here)

Thanks, Daniel.

I agree that mockingbirds are special. They may not have brilliant plumage, but they have a personality. And their song will brighten the most gloomy day.

I like the action, blossoms and composition in the repost works for me. Nice image Norm.

Thanks Jim!