Going through some more fall images, and I quite liked this one. It was just about to shake its feathers, hence the puffed-up appearance. Always fun to happen upon tamer individuals!
Canon 40D + 100-400 @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering (exposure histogram-checked), 1/400s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld (lying on the ground).
Hey Dan, getting down and dirty has given you a perfect perspective. I like the overall light, especially on the eye, sharp, and with a great two tone BG. Maybe move him to the right a tad?
Hi Daniel, not much to add to what has been said but as allways perfectly sharp, great composition and wonderfull background. I like the way the bird is nestled in the grass, allround great image.
Hi Daniel, Wow, I appreciate this. I was thinking of you today as I saw my first horned lark and patiently tried to get the best shot. they are clever little guys and beautiful as your image here. Really like the low ground view, and the grass giving the appearance that there's a nest below. Puffed up is lovely. Ann ps how long did you crawl around and wait till you could get this close? TFS Ann
Ann, they sure are clever - and usually quite flighty. I was lucky with this individual as it had more tolerance to people than any other I've ever encountered (I usually only find them on country roads during the winter, and photographed from the comfort of my car). I was close most of the time, but it took a good 20-30 minutes to get it in a prime spot on the ground (always with a low and slow approach). Most other images were of it perched on a rock, or a short series of it half buried in the sand hiding from a hawk.