Japanese thrush, downtown Shanghai

[Craig Brelsford]

This is backyard birding for me. Zhongshan Park is a five-minute walk from my apartment in the heart of Shanghai. In the largest city in the most populous, most polluted country on Earth, extraordinary birdlife can still be found, especially during migration season. This adult male Japanese thrush probably bred in Japan. (But there’s a disjunct breeding population far inland from Shanghai, so it’s possible he’s from there; I’m looking into this.) Each year, Shanghai birders report half a dozen sightings of the secretive Turdus cardis. Good shots are even fewer. I was therefore shocked when, during a chance encounter at Zhongshan with a novice photographer, I checked his photos and found a Japanese thrush in his camera. He didn’t even know what he’d captured. A long search finally revealed that the thrush was frequenting a quiet, shady area of the park. I chased away the stray cats, swept up the condom wrappers, buried the human feces, and began my vigil. The thrush came four times. By the fourth time, he was accustomed to me and approached to within 6 m. This is one of the better shots. It’s cropped, but not much.

Device: Nikon D300
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal length: 600mm
VR: OFF
Aperture: F/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/6s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Center-Weighted
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400

Other notes: Shot in mirror-up mode. Used shutter-release cable.

[Stu Bowie]

Craig, good low perspective, and I like the inquisitive pose. The colours in the BG are very complimentary, and I can see this as a vertical too.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the interesting story that accompanies your image. You captured the bird nicely, with an eye-level shooting angle, good sharpness, and nice eye contact. The bird is somewhat centered in the frame (I would move it to the right a little). I would also add a bit of canvas on the bottom of the frame. There appears to be a color cast (yellow/green). Here's a repost with my attempt to correct it. Of course I've never seen this species, so I could be totally wrong! :)

[Katie Rupp]

Thanks for the story accompanying this image; learning about bird photography all over the world is one of the benefits of belonging to this site...at least for me. This is a beautiful little bird, with lots of detail (good work at 1/6s) and I also see a slight yellow/green cast which is gone in Doug's repost.

[Craig Brelsford]

Doug, thanks for catching that greenish cast. Can you tell me real quick how you got rid of it?

[Doug Brown]

Doug, thanks for catching that greenish cast. Can you tell me real quick how you got rid of it?

I just created a color balance adjustment layer and moved the magenta/green slider to about -18 and the yellow/blue slider to about +18.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Feces, condom wrappers.... wow, that's some joint mate. :( What a beautiful little bird it is and little does it know of the devastating humans around him. :( Doug's a wizard with the fine details so you are in good hands. :)

Good work, I would off center him too a touch. :)

[Ken Watkins]

Doug's repost makes the colours look more natural, to me.

Not exactly a Wildlife reserve, but birds put up with rubbish better than most.:)

[Craig Brelsford]

Not exactly a Wildlife reserve, . . .

Ken, hi, in E China even the wildlife reserves don't look exactly like wildlife reserves. Birds and other animals are under pressure here, and I fear we haven't seen the worst of it yet.