March theme: Straight down the barrel!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey guys, lets have fun with this one. Images featuring birds looking straight down the barrel (straight on) are often very entertaining, especially with birds other than raptors - although those are perfectly acceptable too for the theme! They can look funny, silly, angry, daring, sweet, miserable, cute, or a whole other range of emotions. Lets see your best "staring contest" bird image!

[Mack Hicks]

I am a fifth generation Texas, and I have always wondered why it was chosen as the state bird. After watching this particular bird for several hours last month, I understood. The mockingbird, like most Texans, is all about ATTITUDE. They are brash, rowdy, aggressive, and most of all loud. A perfect bird for a great state.

Rainy morning in February, south Texas. Nikon D700, Nikon 500 f/4 with Kenko 1.4 TC.
ISO 800 1/125 f/5.6 Gimbaled tripod in a popup blind. Perch in from a nearby huisache. Post in LR3, cropped, exposure adjusted, little vibrance, sharped and NR and a fairly generous post crop vignette to make the bird stand out.

Thanks for suggesting this topic. These are very interesting.

[Jay Gould]

Daniel, may we post more than one "straight down the barrel" image?

I have several I have picked out from Antarctica; otherwise I will slowly post them anyway!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Jay,

But of course you can!! Just post them in the Avian forum as per usual posting rules (1 per 24hrs). Looking forward to them!

P.S. Mack had inadvertently posted his image in this announcement thread and will repost in avian...