Hand of Man (Literally!)

[Grace Scalzo]

This is from Elizabeth Morton NWR on Long Island and the hand is David Salem's. I love how the sweet little bird is gazing at David before taking a seed.

Happy New Year everyone.

1/1000, f 5.6, iso800
Canon 1Dk4, 500 f4 + 1.4tc + tripod

[Satish Ranadive]

Grace:
What a cute little bird with such innocent expression?Superb composition,great lights,details and colors.
Wonderful image ,just love it.
Happy New Year to you too.

Regards,
Satish.

[Don Nelson]

Love the setup on this one. Am excellent hand of man image
Head turn and gaze are excellent
How long did it take to train it? You've incentivized me to try this on the RBNU in my yard.

[Alison McCoy]

Wonderful image. Love the expression and trust displayed.

[Geir Jensen]

Wonderful shot. I love the comp.

[David Salem]

Hi Grace. Very nice shot and love how it shows the scale of the birds size. Didnt realize they were that small until it landed on my hand. Great techs and detail. Glad I got a manicure before I saw you

[Nick Palmieri]

A very "handy" perch Grace...great scale shown in this one. Nice BG and nice pose.

[Marina Scarr]

Absolutely TERRIFIC capture, Grace. Brought a bit smile to my face.

[Shawn Zierman]

I like the care you took in creating a real technically strong image of this moment. Very nice background control, use of dof,
and I love that the bird appears to be eyeing David up! Maybe blend out the semi-bright spots in the bg on the lower right edge,
and in the lower right corner....

[Matthew Studebaker]

Exposure: perfect
Detail: very good, nice fine detail
Light:perfect
Pose: works for me
Composition: just the right amount of hand. nice.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

This is so cool to see Grace. I've never seen this before. It's so nice to see a bird completely trusting humans.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Grace, what a neat photo. I could only imagine taking a nice photo of a nuthatch ... but to have him land on your hand?!

[PhilCook]

Awwww...." cute as a bugs ear ".....what a sweet looking little bird Grace, so delicate looking, and the hand certainly gives it a good size indication, certainly is a tiny little fellow.....lovely feel good image, made me smile

[dankearl]

I can't believe you have Nuthatches eating out of your hand!
I have never seen them come close to people at all and are some of the most skittish
backyard birds I have.
This is really nice.

[Karl Egressy]

This is a very cute picture, Grace. Lovely bird, great compositiona and beauty background.

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks, Everyone. Just so you know, I was not responsible for taming! At this refuge, visitors routinely feed the birds and over the generations, they have become very tame. One of my fav family photos is of my 9 year old daughter (now 26) with a chick-a-dee on her hand.

[Daniel Cadieux]

We have a spot up here that is similar to what you describe and we have both the Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches come into the hand, as well as chickadees and the odd Downy Woodpecker. A favorite spot for the children!! I love your image...just enough hand showing, and within it just enough seeds showing. Very nice.

[Ivan Ellison]

What else can be said. a great image, one which you could send to many photo agencies and I am sure would get a lot of usage. Well done

[Mike Milicia]

Very cute ... excellent reminder of how small these guys are!

Happy New Year, Grace!

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot.
Did not realize they were that small.
Great comp and excellent details.
Well done.