Black-throated Gray Warbler On Snow - Circle Of Life
This little rare for our area warbler, which thrilled birders and photographers since early November here in Ottawa, was photographed on December 10th. It was still feeding actively, and provided unusual views and opportunities to photograph a warbler in a snowy setting - it's not everyday one can do that! Most people were hoping it would move on, or at least survive the winter, but most also knew it likely would not if it stayed around too much longer. Well, two days after this photograph, after even colder temperatures settled in and heavier snow fell, it finally succumbed to the harsher habitat that it is not normally adapted to live in. This was a bittersweet image to process as I had the images of a warbler in the snow I had envisioned, but also realizing that this is the very situation that brought its' demise.
Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, FF, a couple of darker spots removed via cloning, eye work.
very nicely lit and sharp pic of this unfortunate specimen! I wonder why it stayed behind? What was it eating? Very interesting story, thanks for sharing!
Beautiful photo Dan. Details on the bird look fantastic. And it is so unique to have it in the snow. Pity it didn't make it. I think this probably happens to a large number of the birds that stray to the east. Still it's a real bummer. I would clone out the dark blob on the upper left. Also you have a dark line at the top of the frame about mid way between the birds beak and the corner. I guess from some adding of canvas or changing the birds position in the frame.
How could I have missed that line above? I'm usually quite aware about that type of detail. I borrowed some adjacent pixels along the top to hide one of the "darker spots". Anyhow, that was sloppy cloning my part.
Sweet little bird with a sad story...
Image looks great though. I love the single green blade of grass and the perfect head turn.
Whites look great but I would get rid of the dark round spot on LHS.
gail
A lovely, bittersweet image of a northeastern rarity. Sad that he didn't make it. Your signature touch of green works nicely. I agree with the other comments above. Today we lost a White-throated Sparrow, lying in the snow on our back stoop. I don't know if he fell prey to one of our neighbor's evil cats, or if he flew into the glass. We have quite a few that stay the winter here, so he wasn't out of normal range like your little warbler.
Hi Dan, your usual low perspective comes out tops again, and just love the winter setting here. Overall, well exposed, sharp, and the Warbler pops from the snowy BG.