Chinese Hwamei aka Painted Eyebrow

[Jay Shah]

The Chinese hwamei or melodious laughingthrush bird of eastern Asia. in the family Leiothrichidae. The name "hwamei" comes from the Chinese and means "painted eyebrow referring to the distinctive marking around the bird's eyes. The species is a popular cagebird in China because of its attractive song.

The image was taken from a hide in Central China. It was cropped and processed by PSCC2017 and Neat Image for noise reduction.

Nikon D500 600 F4
f/7.1, 1/100, ISO 1600

[John Mack]

Cool looking bird, like the looking back pose. I feel the image could be cropped more from the top right.

[Jay Shah]

Thank you John.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat bird, and vertical was the way to go here. Considering the low shutter speed and the "bold" BG patterns I would have photographed wide-open to give more SS and render the BG somewhat smoother.

[Jay Shah]

Thanks Daniel. Yes, wide open would have helped to render better bokeh, higher SS or lower ISO. But these clicks were split second, no time to change settings.