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Thread: Spring Warblers Are Returning

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Default Spring Warblers Are Returning

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    I happened to be outside with the camera when this guy suddenly appeared. I think it's the first time I have had a Pine Warbler on my feeders, in all the years I've been here. After he departed I could hear his call from the neighbor's pine trees, and he returned periodically for the rest of the day. Light was getting high and bright, but I'm glad to have seen him, and especially glad that the migrating warblers are beginning to pass through my area.

    D500, 500PF + 1.4 T, AutoISO @ 900, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Bill:

    Nice parallel pose, interesting perch (well scaled for this size bird). Soft background.

    Some of the details on the head appear a bit coarse, but I am not familiar with this fellow.

    Cheers

    Randy
    MY BPN ALBUMS

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Bill, first time seeing one of these. Thanks for sharing!

    And props on your unintended timing :-)

    Pose, comp and perch all work very nicely. For some reason the subject just appears to lack critical detail in the feathers (esp around the eye) - was this a large crop? Maybe it's just my eyes.
    Last edited by Brian Sump; 04-05-2021 at 02:02 PM.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Thanks Randy and Brian. Interesting that you mentioned the coarseness. I almost raised that question in the original post: most of my images of this warbler species (unlike with other warblers) seem to exhibit that coarseness of the head details. I wonder if anyone else has experienced that issue with Pine Warblers. That said, this is a moderately large crop: down to 42% of the original pixel count as posted.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    I think it's a fine shot but the crop is just a little too much and it is just a little over-sharpened.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    It could be a function of the light: it was getting harsh, and ever so slightly from your right - so you got some shadowing in the lightly raised feathers. Whatever...it's a Pine Warbler, and with them often being the first warblers back this is a great sign of the season to come. great to have one at your feeders! Did it go for suet?

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    Wonderful lil surprise visitor Bill, i agree w the "coarseness" never the less you have a good capture and interesting branch... I had my first pine warbler in January gobblin suet, what a flash of color and surprise, it stay for bout a month... Here's hoping the warblers are coming soon!

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Bill ... a good solid shot , IMHO .
    Nice pose , good overall color and the perch looks very good to me.

    The already mentioned " coarse appearance " ... is also visible here on my screen .
    As a purely personal opinion .... easy to explain , just " too heavy " overall contrast and sharpening , quite simple IMHO . I do not think it is the crop .... even the lichen on the perch does look coarse .

    With a more gentle approach in both contrast and sharpening .... you might get a better result . Just my take

    TFS Andreas

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    You handled the light well. I like the pose. Haven't seen any warblers yet. I did see tree swallows for the first time a couple days ago.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Thank you all for your helpful comments and somewhat varied suggestions. The "coarseness" could well be attributed to any or all of your suggestions: crop, sharpening, contrast, light. But I went back and looked at the RAW file and saw some of the same issues. I also looked at some internet images of the species. I do think there is something about the nature of the plumage of this bird that contributes to the issue. Look, for example, at this image on the Cornell site: https://ebird.org/species/pinwar/US-NC. Areas of yellow plumage seem to be underlain/intermixed with a dark layer that gives the bird a somewhat blotchy look in spots, which is what I have noticed on my other Pine Warbler images under different lighting conditions.

    Yes, Daniel, he was coming for the suet. He stuck around for several days, but I haven't seen him today or yesterday. They do breed locally in the pine trees of a wildlife refuge a few miles from here.

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