Great Crested Flycatcher

[Jason G. Harrison]

Spent several days with a pair of these. Both the male and female would make their rounds and put on quite a show.

D300s, 600VR, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/500th



Hope you enjoy. As always C&C welcomed and encouraged.

Jason

[Randy Stout]

Jason:

Sharp, well exposed, really neat perch, good BG.

The large HP is really distracting.

I might consider a very small crop down from the top, and add a bit to the left. I understand why you cropped it this way because of the perch, but would like a bit more room on the left.

Cheers

Randy

[Jeff Dyck]

Nice image Jason - great pose and perch. I'll echo Randy's comment on the watermark - very distracting. I might consider toning down / desaturating the green of the background a bit as it almost overwhelms the bird.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I actually think a bit more room on the right (for the flower tip) would be nice even if the bird is looking to the left. Perhaps doubling the space currently there. Sharpness and exposure look great. Too bad about the tail merge with the flower, but still very nice overall (except fot the "HP").

[Jason G. Harrison]

Thanis for all the replies. I mistakenly linked to my folder with those watermarks, so I fixed that, sorry. This image is cropped in a 4x6 format vertically from a horizontal file. Its full frame on the vertical side, so no room on the bottom. I can do other crop's though and will play around with some. I have room on both sides, a 3x4 or a 8x10 might work better here.

As to the background, this whole series of images have that type of background. This patch of woods is the tip of a pennisula of woods that stick way out into one of our pastures. The trees and growth there in the spring almost glow they are so green. Some hate the saturated greens in the background, others love it. Thanks for the suggetions, may re-process it and repost it.

Jason

[Arthur Morris]

Wow! This one took my breath away. Did you do anything to attract the birds?

Image is sharp and the light gorgeous. I am in the soft green BKGR lovers camp.

As this is a bit tight I would love to see a wider version as well as the full frame image. I cannot get enough of this one. Did I mention the killer light?

[Jason G. Harrison]

Wow! This one took my breath away. Did you do anything to attract the birds?

Image is sharp and the light gorgeous. I am in the soft green BKGR lovers camp.

As this is a bit tight I would love to see a wider version as well as the full frame image. I cannot get enough of this one. Did I mention the killer light?

Thanks Art, really appreciate the kind words. To answer a few questions, I lucked out on these birds. I was scouting for birds when I saw alot of bird activity at the point of this pennisula of woods. This sticks out into a big pasture. The part I think makes it so birdy is that it sticks out and is right beside a portion of our lake. Just a short ways from the woods is the waters edge that has some little trees, willows growing up at the edge. I watched the birds going down to the water and perching on all the stuff there and then dropping down for a drink. The last part of May and first part of June were VERY hot and dry for Missouri last year.

I set up the next day, with my own perch and was getting shots of Catbirds, Indigo Buntings, Eastern Kingbirds etc...all coming in and landing on my perch as well as all the natural ones there. Then, all of a sudden, this beautiful male Great Crested Flycatcher flew in, followed by his mate! They were VERY aggressive and scared everything else off. I sat there and clicked away. Every time a bird would come in to drink, the male would charge out of the woods and land and sing. With careful observation, I saw that she was nesting back in there and I assume he was guarding the territory.

As you requested, and some others as well, here are some different crops.

First, a 3x4 crop, full frame on the vertical side. Removed tip of a bud on the left side.



Now a 8x10, still full frame on the vertical side. Removed same tip of bud on lower left side.


Finally, the full frame image. Here you can see the bud tip I removed.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the story and the images. I like the first one, the 3X4 crop, best. All that you need to do is clean the little thing off of the bill tip. MO is rocking lately! Have you seen some of Danny J. Brown's stuff here?

[Jason G. Harrison]

Thanks for the story and the images. I like the first one, the 3X4 crop, best. All that you need to do is clean the little thing off of the bill tip. MO is rocking lately! Have you seen some of Danny J. Brown's stuff here?

Thanks Art. The thing on the big is PART of the bill. I had to really look at it, but in every shot I have of the male, he has this hook part on his bill. I have a few images of him singing and it clearly shows it in those.

Yea, I have seen Danny's stuff...we know each other. We have not met up and shoot together, but we share some of the same "haunts" while getting our shots. He lives within 45 miles of me. We keep in touch. Heres to hoping Missouri REALLY gets smokin hot (action wise) soon. Turkey season is fast approaching, as is the warbler migration, both of which I am geared up for big time.

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, on a closer look it does look like the hooked tip to that bill. To convince me for sure I would either need to see a blow-up or better yet an image of the same species showing the same thing :)

Good luck in the upcoming season. You and DJB should hook up.