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Not Speaking!
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Not Speaking!

by Dennis Plank

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted May 27, 20181,201 views9 comments
I'm not sure whether this belongs here or in Photo Art, since it's a composite image.  Our first successful Bluebird nesting was in 2008 and was followed by a winter with a freak snow capped with an ice storm.  The Western Bluebirds tend to try to winter over in our climate and we lost all of them that winter.  We now feed a few mealworms daily during the nesting season to accustom them to the new source of food and the container we put them in so we can do auxiliary feeding in the winter, if necessary.  When Michelle put the worms out yesterday, I lowered my tripod to ground level and had to wait all of maybe three minutes for them to come in.  It takes them about three trips between them to empty the bowl but they both came back to make sure and they happened to perch on opposite sides as they left.  I couldn't resist combining the two images.

7Dii, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, tripod with ballhead and Sidekick, f/8, 1/1000, iso 800, aperture priority, pattern metering, -1/3 EV.  Processed in LR & PS CC.  I merged the two manually after trying the pano feature in Photoshop, but I must have done something wrong there because it didn't want to work.  Both images taken within seconds of one another on May 26th at 6:42 am.

Your comments and critiques are always appreciated.

Thanks for taking a look,

Comments

9 comments
Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on May 27, 2018 at 11:39 PM
Love it and love the title! Great vision, whatever the gallery, and executed perfectly. Great colors and blurred background.
Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments
Comment posted by Shirley Freeman on May 28, 2018 at 5:56 PM
I agree with Kathy's comment, Dennis.  Very good shot of both birds. 
Registered on May 27, 2017, 77 Posts, 844 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on May 29, 2018 at 11:55 AM
Love it!  Great title, great comp, and great vision!
Sweet birds, soft light, nice BG.
It probably should be in PA, though...

Really cool!
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Ed Williams on June 4, 2018 at 5:39 PM
This is precious Dennis.  I love your caption.  It does look like a quiet time in bluebirdville.  I don't think there is anything wrong with splicing two shots of the same general area together.  That is not really photo art to me. 

Congratulations on the WP Dennis.
Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments
Comment posted by Marylynne Diggs on June 4, 2018 at 7:53 PM
What a great pair of poses here, Dennis.  It's so rare to catch the male and female in the same frame, so admire your composite image to show us how that might look.  I like the title too.
ML
Registered on December 14, 2010, 122 Posts, 1034 Comments
Comment posted by Allen Brooks on June 10, 2018 at 12:28 PM
A beautiful composition.  I like the background as much as the birds.  Well done!devil
Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on June 12, 2018 at 3:05 AM
Great WP! Congrats!
sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Hans Overduin on June 16, 2018 at 2:40 AM
I missed this one ! Great piece of work, Dennis ! Cheers, Hans
Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments
Comment posted by Kathy Snead on July 30, 2018 at 7:25 PM
Dennis

This is an adorable photo, no matter how it was generated.  Thank you for including the description of how you get bluebirds to nest nearby.  

And Congratulations on the WP.  Missed this one originally.
Registered on April 6, 2017, 104 Posts, 397 Comments