Dark-eyed Junco

Or the Oregon Junco as I still think of it.  This is taken at a feeder set-up in front of my blind, though the blind is a bit superfluous for this species.  Those familiar with feeding birds might recognize the shiny black patina on the branch from repeated doses of peanut butter.

7D2, Sigma 150-600C @ 562mm, hand held, f/8, 1/100, iso 1250, aperture priority, pattern metering.  Given the shutter speed, I would have had a lot more keepers if I'd installed my gimbal on the blind window, but I wanted to practice hand holding and I already have lots of images of the local feeder species tucked away.  I find that I lose more to bird movement than to camera motion with this relatively light lens, especially with the ability to brace a bit against the wall of the blind.  Processed in LR5 & CS6.  Cropped to 16 Mpixels.  Taken at 9:24 am on December 16th, 2015 during a rare break in our winter rains this year.

I appreciate your comments on the Egret/Vole series and look forward to your input on this image.

Thanks,