I always enjoy seeing these little sparrows return to my feeders in the Spring. This year they arrived almost three weeks earlier than last year, after wintering in warmer climes. This image is from last Spring. I had set up a nice flowering dogwood branch for him, but he chose the less photogenic perch for this portrait. I also got some images of him on the dogwood, but I still like the bird in this one.
D7000, 80-400 @370, ISO 640, 1/2000s @ f/7.1, +0.3 EV
I heard my first Chiiping Sparrow of the year today, glad to see this image to celebrate that! Very sharp and nice pose. Harsh light and a bit big in the frame for me, and don't know what's going on on the perch beneath the bird (lots of smoothing out). Looking forward to this year's sparrow images too!
Looks OK in the frame for me, and I like the contrast between the relatively light bird and the dark bg. Good details and feathering on the sparrow. I like the way the dark branch beolw the bird continues the line of the bird, but I find it a bit too dark.
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the light was harsh, and the perch rather nondescript. I can't remember what I did to this in PP a year ago, but given the light I probably ran some s/h on the perch which gave it the strange look in the shadowed area.