Turkey in the Straw

[Stephen Stephen]

Canon 40D. Sigma 50-500mm at 500mm - Handheld. ISO 400, 1/640 sec, F9.0 Cropped from landscape format to about 40% of full frame. Minor sharpening after re-sizing.

Actually I created this image two weekends ago while I was in Hamilton Ontario. This bird. and another one, were in a meadow (not straw :D) near a marsh by Lake Ontario. I followed them quietly through the grass and every few seconds one would pop its head up to see where I was.

This is the closest to wild turkeys for quite some time.

[Kirk Benson]

Very cool image, love the color and very sharp, well done. Are you happy with the Sigma 50-500?

[Tony Kirkby]

No doubt some people will find this too 'busy'.

The two out of focus greenish blobs of the LHS draw my eye a little but apart from that this is a really nice image.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Different , but too busy for my taste.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the idea and setting but would be tempted to clone out the blades of grass crossing the bill.

[Stephen Stephen]

Thank you Kirk, Tony, Joe and Axel for taking the time to look at this image and to provide valuable comments. I agree that the image is busy, understandably too busy for many people, but I decided to post it as this is where I found the bird. Perhaps my experience with the birds that day encouraged me to post it.

I had also thought about the grass blades crossing the bill and I may yet clone them out later on. If I did remove them might people think that it was unusual, and too convenient, to have no grass in front of the bird when the grass blade density everywhere else is so high.

Thanks again for your comments.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the caption on this one Stephen and a very interesting composition. I would be tempted to remove the straws that crosss the beak as well but very lovely image and many thanks for sharing.