Sedge Wren for Critique - Kathy Cubert

As my first post to the critique forum, I'd like to submit this shot of a sedge wren. It was shot at F8, 1/1600, 560mm ISO 640. I typically use a Canon 5DSR and a 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 lens with a 1.4x III teleconverter. The date was 8/5 and it was taken at 5:14 p.m. No flash was used. I use Lightroom to process my images along with incorporating NIK software on occasion. The image was cropped to utilize the rule of thirds. I would appreciate any thoughts on how I can improve my work.
Attachment 171821

Nice pose on the bird with a good exposure that 5DSR will give you some leeway with the cropping.

Kathy, beautiful first post - well done. I like this frame a lot. The composition and placement of the bird is great and the background is really excellent. Having the bird singing is excellent. Nor can I fault the clarity, tones or colours on the bird. A very fine shot that I'd be happy to have in my portfolio.

Kathy, welcome to the forum, super first post. Nice HA, BG and pose.

-Tim

Welcome Kathy and yes this is a great first post. Love the calling pose and the nice Colors and details. Very well-done

Thanks for commenting John. I do like the 5DSR a lot - partly for that reason and use it pretty much exclusively. I debated between a 7D MK II and the 5DSR for bird photography.

Great singing pose, and just enough grasses to make this a beautiful habitat image. I love the BG. Nice light and colours. The only thing that is unfortunate, for me, is the bill tip and grass merge - not much you could do there except hope for the bird to pull back its head more. Terrific first post...and welcome to BPN!

I appreciate the detailed information about what you like Glenn. It's helpful to know what specifically works in the shot.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun being on here and am looking forward to learning more. Always learning.

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide input David! It's one of my favorite shots from recent shoots and was hoping that others thought it turned out well.

I'll have to take a look back at some of my other shots of this bird singing to see if I have anything that separates the bill out more from the grass. I appreciate the comment very much! I truly want to know about the things that distract or don't make this the best possible image I could produce.