This guy came in real close, basically to MFD, on this sloping dirt mound to scrape some grit. Its' head was down most of the time but a few pishing noises got its attention just a bit for a proper head angle.
Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/125s., f/5.6, ISO 1600 (the bird flew away as I tried going for f/8 @ ISO 3200), natural light, handheld, full-frame, darkened the pupil and lightened the iris, minor clean up on the dirt and the bill.
I love this! Great portrait Daniel. Fantastic feather detail, head angle, eye catchlight, composition. Only thing I could think of that I might alter if this was mine was the greyish blobs in the background below and to the left of the Crossbills beak, but that is me really nit picking! I wish the bird life was this obliging in my neck of the woods!
I love the shallow depth of field and the detail the eye looks very good as well. I also really like the composition, it's really tight but not cramped.