Mommy Bluebird

Gallery: AvianPosted July 22, 201472 views5 comments

Hi Everyone! This is a mother bluebird bringing back a meal to one of the nesting boxes on our property. She had four babies but one of them died in the nest.

Sadly, we've been really busy helping my Grandma and Grandpa move down to Pincher Creek and we totally missed the babies once they started perching outside of the nesting box and learning to fly.

We have eight nesting boxes and all of them had bird families in them nesting this year! Most of them became homes for tree swallows but we had two bluebird nests. Now there are goldfinch around so we hope they'll move in too!

Thanks for looking!

Nikon D7100
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED
ISO 125
1/1000 @ f/5.6
-0.7EV to keep the highlights from blowing out
handheld

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Dad's Processing Notes:

Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture Pro 7
Minor adjustments to shadows and overall tone using Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and Nik Viveza 2 in PS5
Cropped to app 30% of horizontal original

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Todd Bauer on July 22, 2014 at 11:46 PM

Like that the Mother is dancing because she caught a bug for babies...but I think that the front of the birdhouse is too predominately displayed, both in position and focus...and watch those horizons like a fine tuned watch. (Only said all of this critical stuff because of your Nature Photographer "in the making" moniker). Obvious that the love is there.

Registered on May 28, 2014, 50 Posts, 176 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 22, 2014 at 11:47 PM

Nice composition and pose, Josiah. I like the lifted leg. A little head turn to provide a catchlight in the eye would have really topped it off.

I don't think you'll get Goldfinches in the boxes-they're not cavity nesters that I know of, but if you put out thistle and/pr sunflower seeds you could end up with more than you'd believe-we often have over a hundred in the back yard and that's before the babies start arriving.

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on July 24, 2014 at 12:36 AM

Nice work, Josiah. As Dennis said, a bit of a head turn would make it stronger,but I'd be happy with this in my portfolio.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on July 28, 2014 at 5:46 PM

Hi Josiah! Man, I'm jealous of this one! I LOVE her lifted leg, and the fact she has a meal in her beak makes it even cooler! I really like the lighting you have here, and personally I think this is a great shot showing her returning to feed her family (as in, I like having the bluebird box in the frame and think you composed it well). I like it!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on January 24, 2015 at 4:22 PM

Thank you everyone for commenting on my picture.

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments