Song Sparrow {Melospiza melodia}

Captured in mid song, perfect.  Great detail, excellent DOF and composition...  Mike

He was singing for me Mike!  "Don't go.  Here, take my picture & I'll pose for you and sing you a song."  There's a reason they are called Song Sparrows.  :-)  So I stayed & took many shots. I'll only save about five.  He was most co-operative, seemed unspooked by my close proximity (about 12 ft.)  'Twas fun.  Thanks for your visit & comment.  Best, LM.

A really beautiful shot with very nice lighting and details, Len!

 

Beauty and lighting provided by Mother Nature. Details thanks to Nikon camera & glass.  I'll take credit for the patience. (was on site about 2 hrs)   :-)  Thanks for your kind appraisal.  LM.

Hi Len,

  Beautiful capture with wonderful colors, lighting & details.  Take care, Patsy

Oh my god! where is my BB gun

Thanks for your visit & your thoughts.  See above for answer to Ruud. :-)  Best, LM.

INCOMING! (hate mail from nature lovers)  Keep your head down Meir!  :-)  Always good to hear from you.  Best, LM.

I was just a boy then. I've changed!  

 

Nice picture.  Reminds me,  I used to listen to and fascinated by mocking birds.

This is a treasure of a beautiful image, the background is perfect. Enough of the tree to make it look very natural. Warm regards.

Beautiful work!

What a way to start the day, singing your heart out. Beautifully captured, crisp clear details and sharp accurate colors with a lovely diffused bg. Perfect.

BR,

Holger

Thanks for your visit & validation.  Best, LM.

Patience paid off this time.  This was in the last 10 min. of a 2 hr. outing & one of only four frames worth keeping.  Like he took pity on me & put on a command performance. We're now best friends.  :-)  Best, LM.

Nice, too bad we can't yet have sound tracks.

Yes, that would be nice since I was the only one around to enjoy it's performance.  :-)  Best, LM.

Your constructive comment\critique will be gratefully received. LM.

A cheeky chirpy chappy.....bit like yourself : - ) 

 

Love the detail and the textures of his perch and the soft background colours, I just wonder if it looks better with the far right cropped? 

Compliments & Best Regards 

 

Alf 

Cheeky, chirpy, chap indeed!  Perhaps his performance for me was a recognition that we were 'birds of a feather', soul mates in that area, so to speak. :-) I left the tree trunk in so the perch wouldn't be a disembodied floater, to act as an anchor for it.  The beauty of it is that the option to crop is still there & I may well experiment a bit with it.  Thanks for your constructive & humorous take on this one.  Best, LM.

Beautiful capture! I would do a tighter crop and lose the tree and clone out the distracting branch, if you are into post processing

Beautiful nature capture. The bird is well separated from the background. Great lighting as well. Congrats.

Well, another vote for losing the tree branch.  I guess there's some consensus here.  How does this version resonate with you?  I kind of like it myself.  Thanks for your input.  Best, LM.

Thanks for your visit & stamp of approval.  My reward for 2 hrs. of patience.  The background came out well considering I was using a kit lens at it's maximum of  f5.6.  The 200mm focal length had a lot to do with it as well.  The bright but overcast lighting is ideal for this type of subject matter & as luck would have it, those were the conditions.   Best, LM.

I couldn't ever achieve this sharpness with my tele-zoom lens!

 

Best regards, Len!

 

PDE

Thanks for  your visit.  Secret:  This is a 100% crop from my D5100 original 16 megapixel frame.  And then I applied a bit of sharpening in Photoshop.  Really reaching!  Best, LM.