Bluethroat

Gallery: AvianPosted June 14, 201815,386 views6 comments

Taken about 35 miles from Nome, Alaska at the Salmon Lake Campground on the Kougarok Road (for some reason, Google Maps calls this Beam Road). I went up with Trogon Tours and Charlie VanTassel was the driver/guide for our car. Usually it was Sandy Richards Brown, my wife and I with Charlie, though there were a couple of sessions where we mixed things up a bit with Ken Archer's car. It was a wonderful week, though rather exhausting. This species was the highlight and we finally got a very good session with it on the day before we flew out, but there were a lot of other wonderful birds and photo opportunities.

7Dii, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 m, tripod with ballhead and Sidekick, f/8, 1/1600,, iso 1000, aperture priority, pattern metering, -2/3 EV. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 8.1 MP. I cloned out some stray willow tufts that didn't add to the composition. The light colored blobs are snow on the mountain behind the bird. Taken at 8:32 am on June 10th.

Your comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on June 14, 2018 at 6:51 PM

Beautiful. The colors are great; looks as if you had some nice light. Great pose and background. The snow forms a nice halo around the bird. Sounds like a great trip.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on June 14, 2018 at 9:52 PM

Hi Dennis,

This one looks very good as is. The OOF snow in the BG helps pull the bird out from the BG. The separate branches add some balance to the comp. Well done....................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on June 15, 2018 at 3:16 PM

Gorgeous bird - the highlight of our trip, IMO.
Sweet singing pose, nice perch, and the Alaska light 22 hrs a day was magnificent.
Excellent image!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Tim Stenning on June 15, 2018 at 4:21 PM

Beautiful.

Registered on March 26, 2006, 99 Posts, 343 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on June 17, 2018 at 12:52 AM

Hi Dennis, It was a fun trip and we were able to find everything that we came for. Glad that we got to meet after all these years, and good to see that you got a few keepers. I like the smooth background and alert pose. Well done. devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on June 19, 2018 at 3:28 AM

Congrats Dennis! Bluethroats can be a tough bird to find and photograph in the arctic environment at times. This one's a beauty!

Wonderful light and great singing pose.

Sweet One laugh

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