Grasshopper Sparrow - Life List Addition

[Stephen Stephen]

Canon 40D, Sigma 50-500mm @ 417mm on BushHawk 320 D Pro, ISO 400, F7.1, 1/1000sec Cropped to about 50% of full frame. I was using Fill flash but this image as created when it was re-charging.

I went out to find this species and when I arrived Dan Cadieux and Wayne Wood had gotten there a few minutes before me. We spent an enjoyable morning together creating images of this little sparrow. Judicious use of recording to bring this fellow in close. He came back frequently without the recording as well.

I also got to add a clay-coloured and a field sparrow to my photo collection. :D

I could have used a higher DOF to bring the tail in focus as well.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, singing pose and BG. I would only apply some NR on the BG.

Three new birds per day is not too bad. :)

[Doug Brown]

I'd take three new birds in one day anytime! You did very well with this one Stephen. Love the singing pose. Interesting perch. Great sharpness. I might crop a little off the top, but that's about it. Thanks for posting!

[Grace Scalzo]

Congrats. hardly notice the tail as the rest of the bird is so good, and the singing pose draws all my attention.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Great singing pose and fantastic bg,congrats Stephen!!!

[Arthur Morris]

Very lovely. In singing situations, do not be tempted to sharpen the tail with to get more d-o-f. First of all, folks look at the eye to determine sharpness, and more importantly, at a slower shutter speed you would likely cause motion blur of the bill...

[Stephen Stephen]

Thank you Axel, Doug, Grace, Manos and Artie. Axel I'll look at some noise reduction.

Doug this bird is perching on a dried seed stock of a Mullein plant. The stocks are about 1 metre (1 yard) high and when fresh are covered in many small yellow flowers growing around the stem. The birds seem to love perching on the as they stand out above the growing field flowers.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and thanks for the addtional info. I used to see them on dried mullein a zillion years ago at Galesville Airport somewhere north of NYC. I meant to ask, did you use tapes to attract any of the birds into photographic range?

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

This is lovely Stephen. Great composition and besutiful lighting. The singing pose puts it over the top for me as the beautiful clean BG. Keep them coming !!!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice Stephen...good detail throughout. Of course the singing pose makes it that much more interesting. I'm surprised this is such a crop considering how close to us it came. Was it cropped from horizontal, and if so did you take some verticals too?

[Stephen Stephen]

Thanks Artie I amended the first post to reflect that we did use a recorded call some of the time. My apologies I meant to mention that as I did for the Virginia Rail image. We moved off for a time and when I went back to get my tripod the fellow was quite comfortable with me within 10 feet of him with no use of a recorded call.

Thank you Judy and Dan.

Dan, I did crop this one from the horizontal although I do have some verticals as well. I chose this one because I particularly like the head angle, light and the pose at the very top of the Mullein.

[Diane Chenault]

I like your singing sparrow & would not care about the tail. You have a nice sharp image.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Wonderful singing pose, perch and BG.
I gave a little try to blur and noise reduction to your picture, I hope you don´t mind.

[Stephen Stephen]

Garcias Juan Carlos. The BG looks much better.