Curve-billed Thrasher on a Curve-branched Cholla. December 3 at Bosque del Apache was very overcast with dim gray light, threatening snow. After taking photos of the pre-dawn and dawn marsh, I headed over to the Visitor’s Center, and enjoyed seeing Gambel’s Quail at their feeders, but not from a good photo angle. Next I went to the cactus garden just before 9 am, set up my tripod, and played an iPod tape of the secretive Curve-billed Thrasher, which I read is sometimes seen there. (I later learned that playing tapes is illegal at National Wildlife Refuges. Sorry!) Anyway I waited and scanned distant trees and shrubs, hoping for a thrasher to show up, later hoping for any bird. A female Northern Cardinal fussed around behind a bush, then left. Nothing else. I figured this was a bust and started to leave, but then suddenly noticed a gray feather ball about twelve feet in front of my nose. It snuck in like a thief in the night and was checking me out. I quickly took a couple of shots and it was gone. Canon EOS 50D Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens 1/160 at f/5.6 400mm ISO 1000 Evaluative metering +1 Mongoose 2.3 tripod head Manfrotto 055XDB tripod No flash No crop I cleaned some spider webs from the bill using CS4, but not all. (I tried to remove all and the bill looked like I gave it a shoe shine.) I cleaned some bird poop from the cactus flower below the bird using CS4. A couple of tweaks in Lightroom for clarity, vibrance, and sharpening All comments welcome and appreciated. Happy holidays!
12-22-2009, 12:07 PM
Aidan Briggs
Nice specimen here. I like the perch, the soft light, and the HA. The BG is decent but not great. There seems to be a strong magenta cast, try going into hue/saturation and de-saturating the magenta channel. I also might run NR on the BG, and sharpen the bird a tad more.
Keep them coming!
12-22-2009, 12:27 PM
Stephen Stephen
Tom I like the perch although the bird is a bit too centred for my taste. I alos have to agree with Aidan about the magenta caste.
12-22-2009, 01:53 PM
Axel Hildebrandt
Very nice perch, good head angle and eye contact. I'm undecided about the OOF cactus part in the upper right and might remove it, if that is something you do. As for the color cast, have you installed the most recent firmware? It is supposed to take care of this problem. Keep them coming!
12-22-2009, 10:47 PM
Tom Wilberding
Thank you very much, Axel, Stephen, and Aidan, for taking the time to help me improve. I really appreciate all your comments and observations. I am eager to post some more of my bird pics, but first will try to master some of the Photoshop tips you mention, as well as getting the most recent firmware for my Canon 50D. BTW, I enjoyed checking out your webpages and portfolios--awesome photos!
Tom
