Rock Ptarmigan male

[Bill Dix]

Rock Ptarmigan male partially through his molt into grey summer plumage. Langanes Peninsula, Iceland, in May. Not down and dirty, but I did manage to get an eye-level shot by scrambling down the rocky terrain to get below and ahead of him, without breaking an ankle or scaring him off. Sorry about the missing feet.

D500, Sigma 150-600C @ 600mm; ISO 2000, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual, HH.

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty cool view of both the bird and the habitat. The bokeh is a bit busy but not much you could do

TFS

[gail bisson]

Love those red eyebrows! Whites look great.
Bird is perfectly parallel to the sensor.
Nice low POV.
The bokeh in the BG seems quite "glassy". Is that what the bokeh is usually like with the sigma?
Good work Bill!

[John Mack]

Nice bird in a nice setting. Like the framing here. Nice and sharp.

[William Dickson]

Well captured Bill...really like this, love the 'Scottish' feel about it, although it is in Iceland. I have still to photograph these beautiful birds, but plans are in hand....Habitat and bird look lovely. TFS

Will

[dankearl]

Excellent view of a very cool bird we don't see much of,, very nice.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for the comments. Gail, I see what you mean about the bokeh. It's not the Sigma lens, but I don't know what caused it. Maybe NR?? Atmospheric conditions??