Little grey bird

[Celeste Painter]

I think this guy is a Western Wood-Pewee. He was right in front of my face (which is why it's actually somewhat sharp--normally, I'm not this lucky). Any critique would be welcome.

Gear:
5dm2, a dusty 100-400, hand held, no flash

Settings:
1/2,000 @f/9.0
2/3 EV
ISO 640
400mm

Processing:
-cropped from 5616x3744 to 1854x1236--not sure I'm sold on the composition, especially after seeing the watermark placement
-lens corrected using Lightroom 3's profile for the lens
-minor sharpening

[Nancy Bell]

This is a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Generally they are more brown than gray. Very nice pose & feather detail. Good to have a gleam in the eye. Since the swallows spend much more time in the air than perched, it is nice that you captured this one! If you can I would allow a bit more space on the bottom & not so much on the left. Also, if this were mine, I would clone out many of the smaller branches & not have your name cover part of the tail, as you suggest.

[Celeste Painter]

Hi Nancy, Thanks! And, thanks for the ID on the bird. He was hanging out with some other swallows which is why I was unsure what he was exactly, but swallow makes much more sense. I agree with your crop advice. I'll try to clone out the twigs too--will be a first attempt at something like that. Thanks again!

[P-A. Fortin]

I was about to call it a Black Phoebe. I definitely need to get back out on the field and into the ID books

Good detail on the bird, especially considering the significant crop you performed. I would indeed try to clone out a few twigs. If it is a first attempt, I'd try it on the out of focus twig behind the watermark. Seems like a good candidate for experiment.