Eastern Meadowlark

[Tom Walter]

I caught this Eastern Meadowlark late yesterday afternoon near my home. It reminded me of the Western Meadowlarks we had on the farm in Wisconsin when I was growing up. There is definitely a difference in the song of the eastern and western meadowlarks.

Nikon D200
Nikon 70-300 4.5-5.6G VR
1/500 sec at f 7.1, aperture priority
300 mm, ISO 400
Hand held

[Doug Brown]

Now that's a singing pose! Good eye contact too. I would darken the BG at the bottom of the frame a little. Also your blur seems to have gotten some of the leaves on the perch below the bird; it doesn't look quite right to have focus fall off so quickly. Just add a layer mask to get those leaves back in focus.

[Tom Walter]

Doug,
Thanks for pointing out the problem with the blur. I just started using the blur on some images and obviously haven't got it perfected.
Tom