Bluebird on Weathered Rock

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,
Another male showed up a couple of days ago at Piper's Lagoon here in Nanaimo B.C. Got some nice complimentary colors going on in this one from the orange moss on the rocks in the background.

Specs: Canon 50D, 500mm F/4 with 1.4X, ISO 400, 1/320sec at F/8.

Thanks for looking,

Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful bird, and the orange spotting in the BG really goes well with the blues. Love the perch. Some fill would have helped with what looks like somewhat backlit conditions. The dark halo above the head catches my eye. I find the image quality could be a better...is this a large crop?

I take it this is a Mountain Bluebird, and "rare" for your area?

[Jim Fenton]

Agree with all of Daniels comments.
BG looks like it could use some NR and I would try and lighten the eye a bit.
Also...I'd clone out the streak falling through the right side of the image. Was it a rain drop?

[Steve Large]

Beautiful bird, and the orange spotting in the BG really goes well with the blues. Love the perch. Some fill would have helped with what looks like somewhat backlit conditions. The dark halo above the head catches my eye. I find the image quality could be a better...is this a large crop?

I take it this is a Mountain Bluebird, and "rare" for your area?

Hi Daniel,
Don't know what the halo is. Some sort of color difference in the rock in the background? Qualiy really suffered from the conversion. Had to bring it down to 65 in order to meet the size restrictions. Also did not see any noise until that point. Soon as I made it smaller the background in particular went a little sandy. Picture taken from about 70 feet so a bit less than half frame.

Yes, they are quite rare around the west coast. At least in my neck of the woods. Usually a couple sighted in Victoria, one or two out at the Nanaimo Estuary, and probably a half dozen or less reported in the greater Vancouver area. These are Mountain Bluebirds but there hasn't been any Western Bluebirds on the island since I was about 15 (Nearly 40 years ago).

Steve

[Steve Large]

Agree with all of Daniels comments.
BG looks like it could use some NR and I would try and lighten the eye a bit.
Also...I'd clone out the streak falling through the right side of the image. Was it a rain drop?

Hi Jim,
Yes it is a rain drop. Caught this guy between showers.

Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Steve for the additional information! Always exciting to photograph rare or uncommon bird