Gambel's Quail

Hello everyone. I was going through some files from this past summer and I came upon this quail series. Every morning that I would pass through this certain spot I would spot male quails on top of the bushes calling. They usually are very skittish, but for some reason in the mornings I was able to get close to them. Here is a shot of one them in a calling pose.
C&C welcomed and encouraged.
Nikon 300s I Nikon 200-400 w/1.4 tc I 1/640 I F8 I ISO 320 I 560mm I Spot I Aperture Priority.


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<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">Love the singing pose, eye contact, exposure, and details. Would have liked the bird to not be behind a few twigs. I might remove the two disconnected pieces of perch in the RLC. And I think there's a bit too much space at the top of the frame.

Robert:

This is quite nice, I like the calling pose, soft BG, well exposed.

I could see a version with a very slight crop from the top, and might consider removing the brown bare stick on the lower left corner, or toning down its luminosity just a bit.

I could also see just a subtle toning down of the luminosity of the perch in general, to help draw our eyes to the bird and not the brighter areas of the perch.

Nice capture.

Cheers

Randy

PS: I was typing at the same time as Doug, so didn't mean to repeat the cropping suggestion.

Super cool bird and you captured it in beautiful singing pose..Excellent exposure and colors..Agree about taking off some space from top and some cleaning as suggested by Doug and Randy...But this is a fine image as is.

Excellent singing pose and natural perch!

Yet another vote for less at the top.

Great calling pose. Agree with cropping and also maybe a little brightening

What a nice looking bird! Another vote for cropping off the top! Nice IQ and pose. Maybe go a touch brighter?
Gail

Very nice species to get a nice pose of, Robert.
Well done.

Thank you everyone for all the comments and suggestions. Much appreciated.
Here is my try, doing some of the suggestions you all told me. I cropped some from the top removed some branches and brighten it just a tad.

<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">The repost is much stronger than the original IMO. Well done!

Robert:

The repost is a significant improvement, more impact, nice job!

Randy

The thumbnail caught my eye immediatley, so I knew I was going to like this shot, and agree that the crop on the re-post takes a really well photographed & interesting image up a few notches. Only nit (and it's a small one) might be that it seems like it might be just a little bit front focused - small twig in front of bird is very sharp but the right foot is falling out.

Thank you for the second comments. Much appreciated.

Repost is wonderfull:bg3:

Robert , this is an outstanding shot. Great calling pose.

Carmelo

Geir and Carmelo thank you very much for your comments.