Gambel's Quail

[Nate Chappell]

Hi everyone, here's a Gambel's Quail that I photographed at Bill Forbes great spot in the desert near Green Valley, Arizona. I put a little seed on the back of this baby saguaro cactus to entice him up there.

Mk3 500F4 1.4X 1/500 F8, iso 640, evaluative metering -0.3

[Raymond Barlow]

welcome to BPN Nate, and your first pose here is a superb image, well done!

[Ken Watkins]

What a remarkable looking bird, does it normallytstand on cactus, it looks remarkably uncomfortable to me.
I cannot think of any nits at all, perhaps a slightly lighter BG.

[Nate Chappell]

Thanks Ken, I don't think they often stand on cacti, but occasionally they do and they live in environments where there are often a lot of cacti/

[Dave Mills]

Hi Nate...It would take more than seed to get me up there!! Beautiful image with alot of interest. Backround, lighting and composition are handled nicely. Small nit would be to add a bit of canvas on the left.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Hmm....exquisite. Love the light, pose and perch.

[Mark Schmitt]

Very similar species to California quail, and I've seen them on cholla and all maner of cacti; so this does not surprise me. Great image. Good job, and welcome. ;-)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome Nate, good to see you here! Excellent image, I like the light, setting, details and BG. If anything I might run NR on the BG and wish for a slight head turn towards you. Keep them coming!

[Juan Aragonés]

Hi Nate, I am glad to see your images posted here, big wellcome :-)

The light is fantastic and the BG is really pleasant, love the eye contact, perch and pose. The bird pose is very good. I think that a round of noise reduction to the BG would be great. Very good job on this excelent image.