Backyard Pine Siskin.

[Daniel Cadieux]

All of last week I had Pine Siskins feeding on the nyger seeds in my backyard. I had not seen a Pine Siskin locally in at least 5-6 years so that was exciting to me. My yard is also only photography-friendly on cloudy days due to light angle, so when a drizzly day was projected I booked that day off to go to work. I went perch hunting in the nearby woods (but ended up with a piece of the backyard Oak tree for this image). It took all of two minutes for the many siskins and goldfinches to flock around the new temporary spot for the feeder. I setup a lawn chair in the garage looking out the back door, placed a "choice beverage" at arm's length and just fired away. This one was by far the darkest siskin out there and I was glad it too took the time to stop to have its photo taken!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/100s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, eye work to clean up the reflections, small crop for comp, minor bill cleanup to clean seed residue.

[Marina Scarr]

Perfect framing and pose with a pleasing color palette, Daniel!!

[Grace Scalzo]

So difficult to get a clean frame, nice habitat, good bird and pose and yet you do it time after time. Totally pleasing frame, love the leaves as much as the bird.

[Raybel Robles]

Great image Daniel. I like that you kept the leafs in the frame, sometimes they can overpower the main subject, but I like it in this photo.

[Shawn Zierman]

I like the perch...it's uniquely different than what first comes to mind when I think of this species. It is a lovely dark individual. Very nice background. I like the splash of red in the lower left. Perfect techs. This looks to be a very good winter for this species in my neck of the woods too, with many siskins moving down the shore of Lake Superior this fall...

[William Dickson]

Very nice image Daniel. The bird is perfectly sharp and looks good on this perch.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, you nailed the pose perfectly, and I like how the leaves extend out of the frame. Excellent sharpness for the low ss, and I do like the mixture of colours. Well captured.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Great story and description Daniel! A very lovely specimen, great pose, perfectly balanced and love the BG.

[Tim King]

Sat on that perch just the way you wanted. I'd like to see the rest of the perch at the bottom (where the branch splits)

[Joseph Przybyla]

I like everything about this image, beautiful little bird, pleasing composition, wonderful color palette. If mine I might take the most right catch light out of the eye leaving only one. Lovely image, thank you for sharing.

[Greg Oakley]

Beautiful image Daniel! Awesome pose, BG and perch

[John Cooper]

Love the overall composition and exquisite detail Daniel. Your efforts well worth it !

[Simon Wantling]

Really nice Daniel. Cracking composition and colours.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely bird, pose and comp. And colors. Yes, it does seem dark for a Siskin. I was thrilled to see my first of the year out the window yesterday. But today when I got the camera out and waited for him, he was a no-show. Nicely captured.

[mohammad reza shahab]

Hi Dan,great pose,perch,BG and colors
.perfect composition.

[Binu John]

Fabulous shot, Dan! Excellent setup as usual. Beautiful perch, pose and BG and excellent exposure and composition! TFS

[David Salem]

I'm glad to know you have your priorities right They are identical to mine You have a real knack for these small bird shots and this one looks good enough to be in a calender. Everything is spot on.