Carrion crow on a stick

I spent Sunday trying in vain to get some decent shots of Carrion Crows and Jackdaws. I still don't have the shots I wanted since they are the most astute birds I have tried. They don't know I am there, (I am too well camouflaged for them to recognise my shape), but they know that something is different, and you can see them swerve the moment they spot it.

This shot just tickled me. I have cloned a few other twigs out and cropped to about 60% of the original, but he took off from a substantial branch where he was playing sentinel and flew past these twigs. It appears that he is attached to them.

Not the best pic in the world, but I hope it amuses a few of you.

Nikon D300 with Nikon 600/F4. 1/2500 at F4, ISO 400, EV 0.

Hi Mike, Great photo and pose from the bird. There seems to be a whitish halo around the crow though. TFS.

Ouch! Apart from the stick, nice capture! Nice pose and lovely gloss on the feathers.

Hi Mike,

Some great light there which has really brought out the detail. Worth persevering, corvid shots in light like this can be spectacular.

Cheers,

Lewis.

I like it and the direction he is flying helps show off its wings, nice

Hi Ian.

I noticed a halo around the bird on my laptop when I wasn't looking straight on to the screen, but when I viewed it from directly in front it wasn't visible, so I didn't worry about it. I certainly don't know what it is, as I haven't done huge amounts of processing.

Thanks for the comments folks.

Love the pose captured and the colours brought out in the ligh,very nice Miket

As said, looks painful Mike lol. But a super image and you have captured the colour in the plumage nicely.

Fran

Good to see someone tackling birds rarely photographed and this is great image.

I like it!
Paul.

I like it too and there is no halo apparent on my screen.
Robert

Very nice image mike,
good feather detail, nice background, well exposed

ron