Winter Nuthatch

Gallery: AvianPosted April 10, 2012122 views7 comments

Greetings from Yellowstone! My wife and I took the family down for a late-winter/early spring outing to Yellowstone this past week, and it's been pretty exciting on the wildlife front. We've seen plenty of bird life as well, and I'm sure Jenaya will be posting a bluebird image soon, but I have struck out on feathered critters this week so I thought I'd share another from 2011. And after a heavy snowfall on Friday and Saturday, it put me in the mood to find a wintery bird picture and this one fit the bill.

I know it would be nice to have the feet and legs showing, but I love the pose on this white-breasted nuthatch and the soft, muted background. In retrospect, a little more DOF to capture the tail and perch in sharp focus would likely have improved the image, but I was still getting used to my brand-new body and teleconverter and wasn't sure how much I should (could) push the ISO or SS so this was my compromise sans tripod.

Man these guys can be hard to follow and capture! After a few failed attempts he finally perched in a nearby tree and posed just long enough for me to find him through the lens, compose, and squeeze the shutter.

I played around with several comps, but in the end this felt about as good as I was going to get.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII
ISO 500
1/320sec @ f/5.6
monopod mounted
cropped to app. 75% of original

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on April 10, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Nice detail & pose! Somehow the 2-toned background seems slightly distracting but it's truly a minor nit. Nice work!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on April 10, 2012 at 2:20 PM

Nice perky little bird with a bit of attitufde. Seems to fit the character of this species. You certainly got a good pose and the exposure was right on and captured good detail. The OOF tail is quite minor in IMO. But yeah, a little more DOF would have been nice. Looking forward to images from your Yellowstone trip.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on April 10, 2012 at 4:17 PM

This is really very unique pose, cute bird and sharp shot. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Sally Wood on April 10, 2012 at 6:59 PM

I think this little guy is darling.. love the background and his perch in the tree!

Registered on March 8, 2012, 39 Posts, 509 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 10, 2012 at 9:58 PM

Gorgeous detail, John, and I like the little bit of head turn-looks like he's giving you the eye.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 11, 2012 at 2:01 AM

Great classic nuthatch pose on this little fellow John. Nice detail and winter environment. Sweet Photo

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on April 12, 2012 at 10:58 PM

Awesome image! I love the pose he gave you, and nice catchlight in the eye. I like the DOF and the two-tone background is not very distracting to me. Hope we can find more of these guys this year!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments