Going back through old files, I revisited this image of a female Rusty Blackbird from 5 years ago. A small group of them was paying a brief visit to a nearby marshy woodland area, their favored habitat. Conditions that evening were cold, wet and uncomfortable. She is shown here exhibiting typical leaf-tossing behavior. The species is one of the most threatened songbird species in North America, having lost something like 90% of their numbers over the past half-century, due to loss of marshy woodland habitat and possibly mercury contamination.
D7200, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 2500, 1/500s @ f/7.1 manual. SB-700 @ -1.7 EV.