Willow Ptarmigan on Willow

[Alan Murphy]

Willow Ptarmigan

Nome, Alaska

D800, 850 MM, ISO 800, f6.3, 1/250.

[Marina Scarr]

An impressive image, Alan, and I love the vertical format. Great angle on the bird, glad I can see his feathered feet, killer BG and what a bonus that you captured him in the willows.

[Melissa Groo]

What a stunner, Alan. Love those feathered feet! Great comp and background. Wonderful that all the vegetation in focus. Just a beautiful image.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent pose and I love those feet.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice work Alan!
do you prefer the D800 for birding these days? I presume only for static shots and portraits?

[jack williamson]

Excellent IQ, whites are gorgeous as is the brown, very sharp with a fine perch and BG.

Jack

[Alan Murphy]

nice work Alan!
do you prefer the D800 for birding these days? I presume only for static shots and portraits?

Hey Morkel, my D4 had an issue with the mirror while I was in Nome, so I had to use my D800 for most of the trip. I was still able to pick off a few action shots.
There really isn't any static shots in bird photography, but I do have difficulty deciding which camera to put on my lens. A good problem I guess.

[Maya Raut]

Hi Alan,
What a beautiful Capture!! I am glad to see this bird in half winter and transforming breeding plumage. I liked his feathered feet very much and techs are perfect as always.

- Maya

[Lyle Gruby]

Really nice image, those feet look like they belong on a clydesdale!

[PhilCook]

Lovely techs and comp, never heard of of one of these before, what a strange looking bird, excellent image !

[Rachel Hollander]

Alan - your usual great IQ with pleasing bg, nice perch and great detail. Those feathered feet remind me of snow boots but I suppose that's the point.

TFS,
Rachel

[Markus Jais]

A wonderful shot with great light and colors. The willow is fantastic as a perch. This could be on the cover on a book about the species - should ever someone write one. Markus

[Tom Redd]

Alan, congratulations on the beautiful as always photo. Great exposure, pose and BG. Just a question that I know many will not like, but would you or anyone consider a square crop for this image to decrease a bit of the willow from the bottom? I would like to hear others thoughts, I may be alone on this.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image Alan,like the BG,pose ,sharp with good detail,nice soft light.thanks.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A really eye catching shot, it couldn't be a better perch for this bird could it? The bird is displayed beautifully, great quality image, this would make a great print.

[Alan Murphy]

Alan, congratulations on the beautiful as always photo. Great exposure, pose and BG. Just a question that I know many will not like, but would you or anyone consider a square crop for this image to decrease a bit of the willow from the bottom? I would like to hear others thoughts, I may be alone on this.

Hey Tom, thanks for the question. I'm not a big fan of square crops but do find they are necessary sometimes. This is not one of those times IMO. The perch (which I just found out is an alder, with the Willow coming in on the left) is a big part opf the image and I don't feel it would gain anything taking it out.

[Tom Redd]

Thank you Alan for the reply and for the post.

[Arno Ellmer]

Superb capture,Alan.Never seen this bird before.Love the posture,colours and the feathered legs.The excellent bg makes the bird stand out so nicely !