Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Handheld, I appreciate the image is messy but it portrays the situation, ie. a wheatear having a stopover during passage. I was walking with Barney and I noticed a pair of wheatears on the cliff top, I approached slowly whilst averting my eyes and eventually I got close enough for a shot. The birds clearly knew I was there and tolerated my presence, in fact it was I who left first.
I had to over expose significantly and then use adjustments at raw stage to get the strong side light acceptably balanced.

The name wheatear is supposed to be derived from old english 1585-1595 "whiteers" white rump or white arse.

Image input equipment model : Olympus E-M1X
Lens focal length : 420 mm
Focal length in 35 mm film : 841.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
Photographic Sensitivity : 640
Exposure bias : +1.3 EV
Exposure time : 1/1000 sec
F number : F5.6
Flash : OFF

ACR + PSCC

From a natural history POV, I like the image and the explanation that you've given. However, as you've mentioned, the image has multiple factors going against it. The bird's head angle isn't ideal, the perch is quite messy (nothing you could've done about that though), the light's harsh. The killer for me has to be the large green blade of grass that's intersecting with the bird. It's just too prominent to ignore and too large to clone out. Given the situation, I doubt you could've done better though, and as I said, in terms of natural history, the image is informative :S3:

You did well with what you had to work with. Like the framing. Wish for a little more of a head turn towards you.

nice find the main issue is that the bird is angled away from us, the OOF weed, blown highlights and the side light weren't ideal, honestly this file isn't a keeper for me :)

TFS