This species and the Saltmarsh Sparrow have recently been re-named by the A.O.U. without the words Sharp-tailed. Note the differences in the facial pattern and breast streaking between this and the Saltmarsh Sparrows recently posted by Ilija from Boston. The Nova Scotia race of Nelson's Sparrow is duller in color and less streaked than the prairie and interior races.
Hi Richard, nice capture of the species, I think the large crop has affected the detail in the Sparrow. Maybe a vertical crop would have worked too, but again depends on the loss of detail in the crop.
I didn't know they renamed them. In my Sibley they are still Sharp-tailed.
Thanks for the info, good to know.
I tried to get the Nelson's in Maine on several occasions with no success.
So good to see this bird here. Very nice comparison of the two species.
Regarding the image, the stomp is on the big side of course, but you did quite well
composition-wise. You probably could not go with tighter crop.
Very nice pose and HA on the bird. I'm envious on the nice and clean BG:)
The bird looks soft, probably due to attempt to NR (been there:()
IMO if you have too large crop and therefore too much noise leave the noise on the bird
and do NR selectively on the BG.
Thanks for sharing, hope to see some more of this bird here.
These birds were literally just renamed; the AOU had been hinting at the change for some time. Anyone coming to Maine looking for these should go straight to the Scarbrough Marsh. I work at the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center and if you stop in we can fill you in with very specific places to see both Saltmarsh and Nelson's Sparrows.
With this picture I would be tempted to leave even more space around the bird, mostly to save some quality and hopefully help minimize the obtrusiveness of the perch. The lighting seems difficult in this, a little flash seems like it could have really helped. Aside from that its a nice image of a bird that is tough to get in the open, good job!
I think critical focus is on the upper part of the perch rather than the bird. After the fact, you could try sharpening the bird more and masking the additional sharpening off the perch.
The perch does seem a bit big, but my main concern is still the sharpness, or the inadequate of it - of the bird and so agree to more sharpening should be in order. Good pose and head angle.
Nelson's (Sharp-tailed) Sparrow
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