OK, who broke my favorite perch?

[Steve Large]

This Common Yellow Throat looked a bit ticked off when he found that his favorite perch had been broken by another bird or possibly the last snow of the season.

Canon 20D, 500mm & 1.4X taken at f/8, 1/640 sec.

Thanks for looking,

Steve

[Victor Soares]

Have to love that look on the face ... ha ha !! Nice yellow breast. Find the oof leaves/twigs in the bottom left corner distracting ... nice take !

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice pose and exposure, he does look surprised! Agree on the left being distracting, maybe cropping to a vertical would solve that.

[Raul Quinones]

Nice colors and pose.
I went to my favorite birding place three days in a row, watched a common yellow moving around, and never got a clear shot. I am so jealous.

[Steve Large]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I wanted to crop a bit tighter but was afraid of making the bird too centered in the frame. I know what you mean Raul about taking pictures of these guys. Had to wait about an hour to get a dozen good ones. This guy and his mate were quite cooperative in the end. Last year before I had big glass, I would just get fleeting glimpses of them although you can always hear them singing every Spring.

Steve

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Steve,

The bird looks out of focus IMO. If you look closely, the stick in front of him is sharper.

[Doug Brown]

Steve, I have to agree with Maxis that the bird seems OOF to me. The perch is a bit of a distraction. Like the exposure and the BG.

[Steve Large]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the input. Other than the Neat Image pass I had not done any post production on this shot. Hear it is with some USM and that distracting lower left OOF branch cropped out.

Thanks,

Steve

[Doug Brown]

Much better Steve!