Bluethroat Singing

Gallery: AvianPosted November 20, 201432,767 views10 comments

At last, my third year visiting the Seward Peninsula, near Nome Alaska I was able get some quality time photographing several male bluethroats. Not that I didn't see them the previous visits, because I did at distances or if they were close there was always a trig or something between us. Normally fairly shy, this one actually allowed me to slowly walk up to him while he sang his heart out on this great willow twig.

Canon MKIV; 600mm & 1.4x; tripod with RRS BH55 ballhead; 1/1000; f9; ISO 800; manual settings using spot meter; nearly full frame vertical crop from horizontal format

All your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on November 20, 2014 at 7:55 PM

Pretty amazing colors. I like the colorful perch too. The greens in yellows in those buds add a nice touch.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Tjie Poo on November 21, 2014 at 2:33 AM

This is one awesome shot Ken ! Great pose, striking colors and gorgeous background. I love the perch too !

Registered on December 4, 2012, 51 Posts, 511 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on November 21, 2014 at 8:26 AM

Ken,
Now this is what I call a good looking bird

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Hisham Atallah on November 21, 2014 at 10:49 AM

Very appealing image. you may want to run noise reduction on the background.

Hisham.

Registered on November 5, 2014, 121 Posts, 352 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on November 21, 2014 at 4:48 PM

Congrats with finally getting it! Great bird, perch and shot !

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on November 22, 2014 at 10:02 PM

Awesome singing pose and love the perch as well Ken. Really nice comp.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on November 23, 2014 at 2:20 PM

Excellent, bird, Catkins, and a cracking Bg ,you really have nailed this one Ken.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 24, 2014 at 2:14 PM

This is awesome Ken! Super singing pose and a great perch. I realize you are partial to 2x3 crops but if it were mine I would include more space on the left as long as it's not out of focus bushes. Beauty!

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 25, 2014 at 4:43 AM

Beautiful bird and love the perch Ken - great shot

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Minish on November 27, 2014 at 12:54 AM

Love those incredible colors! Nice sharp capture with a good basic composition. I wonder what it would have looked like if you had sacrificed a bit of the angled branch on the right for a little more space on the left.

Registered on February 4, 2006, 625 Posts, 3583 Comments