Rail-Sitter

[Arthur Morris]

This displaying Boat-tailed Grackle was photographed sitting on the railing of the pier down at the lake by my home. I was sneaking up on some Turkey Vulture when this guy landed and began singing. The image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. (I opened up a third from the exposure for the vulture.)

Lot of whitewash-railing clean-up but the o-o-f edge of the railing was a result of it being angled towards me.

Central sensor by necessity AI Servo/rear focus AF active at the moment of exposure.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful light and colours, awesome BG and good techs. Not crazy about the perch and composition. Here is a repost with what looks to me a more balanced composition.

[dankearl]

Very nice processing on the black feathers and attractive BG.
As usual, sharp as can be.
I prefer Ofer's crop.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice iridescent colors, sharp details and a nice BG. I am sure you would have liked a natural perch better.

[Ron Sprunger]

I have found the Grackles very difficult to photograph, both because of color and social habits. Great job on this one. I love the HA and the spread of the tail. I prefer the RP.

[Craig Brelsford]

Great job here handling a tricky bird, Artie. I can see a case for either crop.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Tricky bird to expose . The feather details look good here. Prefer the RP .

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

You did well with capturing that metallic glow in the colors and I like the HA as well as the calling pose and bg. My first thought was that I wished the bird was to the right and poof there it was in Ofer's repost.
Is that his little tongue I see?

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Artie, the light has brought out the iridescence nicely, and what killer colours in the BG. The Grackle is tack sharp, and good to see the open beak. My thoughts as well to move him more to the right.

[Mital Patel]

Guru ji,
wonderful exposure here. Agree with arash that you would love the natural perch more better but not everytime we get perfect perch :)

And i liked the repost of Ofer's comp.

[Mark Itol]

Sweet light and background and excellent exposure and detail. I prefer the composition on the repost.

[Karl Egressy]

Beauty pose and he looks great against the smooth muticoloured background, Artie.
I wish for a better perch but the great capture overrides this minor nit.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, what a BG...perfect complement to the dark bird with irredescence. Loved the pose captured. I think a central placement might work best here.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, what a BG...perfect complement to the dark bird with irredescence. Loved the pose captured. I think a central placement might work best here.

Thanks all :). The bird was singing looking to my the right and singing looking to my left and changing posture quickly so I put the central sensor on the upper breast (the red square in the screen capturea) and made a few. As luck would have it the best light on the face was with the one where he was looking back. For me this is an optional composition but I do prefer Ofer's repost. But I can surely sell this one. Note: I would never ever put the bird in the middle here. Remember that turnstone post????? And yes, that is the tongue.