Eastern Pewee with Dragonfly

[Jonathan Ward]

Canon EOS 5D with a Canon 500 f4 IS and Canon1.4 extender on a Linhoff Profi II ballhead mounted on an Ergo Rest Multi Tripod used as a car window mount.
Shot at f8.0 at 1/400 sec ISO 100

[Lana Hays]

Jonathan
This is very nice. It's well composed, smooth complimentary BG, great pose on the bird and.....the topper........lunch. I have a 5D that I sometimes use for birds and I find that there is less DOF being full frame (compared to my MkIIN, 40D). Since you shot at ISO 100, I'd bump that ISO up and you could get a little more DOF with the same shutter speed. As I said, this is a very nice image but if you can tweak just a little more out of at "no cost" to the other variables then you might try it.

[Alfred Forns]

I like this image very much Agree with Lana's thought on the ISO I'm sure going to 200 and stopping down one more would have been beneficial Do love it as presented Excellent capture !!!!

[Judd Patterson]

So nice that you caught the insect being devoured. As far as the bird ID, it is actually an Eastern Kingbird. The Eastern Wood-Pewee would have a very faint eye-ring, wing bars (all we see here are some slightly faded feather tips), and a solid color on the tail feathers (instead of the white tip). Usually the Eastern Kingbird is a little darker overall, but this bird appears to have some very worn feathers and is probably about to molt. Hope that helps!

[Jonathan Ward]

So nice that you caught the insect being devoured. As far as the bird ID, it is actually an Eastern Kingbird. The Eastern Wood-Pewee would have a very faint eye-ring, wing bars (all we see here are some slightly faded feather tips), and a solid color on the tail feathers (instead of the white tip). Usually the Eastern Kingbird is a little darker overall, but this bird appears to have some very worn feathers and is probably about to molt. Hope that helps!

Judd,

Thanks for the note on the bird species. I searched many books but the Eastern Pewee was the closest I could get to an identification - not being a birder only a photographer! Must really do more research!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Ward]

Lana, Thanks for the advice. I now have a 1D Mk III , or at least I will have once it gets back from Canon after the sub-mirror assembly fix. I use ISO 200 on that body all the time. Haven't really used the 5D much since getting the 1D.

Jonathan

[Jim Neiger]

Lovely shot of this young Eastern Kingbird. The dragonfly in it's bill really makes the image. No nits here.