The co-operative yellowthroat

[Nikhil Patwardhan]

Clicked during the spring migration of 2014, this male Common Yellowthroat was for some reason mostly motionless on these rocks in Central Park, NY.
Focusing with the Nikon 500mm f/4 P was unexpectedly challenging for a bird that was so stationary, to be fair it was still about 30 feet away. This is an approx 6.5 MP crop from the 16 MP image.
Edited in Lightroom, mostly global edits, sharpened the beak selectively with a crude brush and darkened the edges of the frame slightly.

Btw, there is a yellow/white speck of debris/dirt sticking in one of its hindneck feathers which I decided not to clone out

Gear: Nikon D7000 w/ Nikon 500mm f/4 P
EXIF: 500mm, f/4, 1/180s ISO 640 on a monopod

[keith mitchell]

You get some cracking birds in Central park, this one is very nice, like it's pose and rocky perch, does still look a little soft on my monitor.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Nikhil, good eye level capture, and you managed a good angled pose. I agree the head is a bit soft. The focus seems to be on the back leg. A bit of selective sharpening could work, although your ss suggests you were already battling for light.