Victorian Crowned Pigeon

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Jerry, if I understood you correctly in your comments on one of the flamingo pictures - you submitted this pic for critique because of wanting helpful comments? Hmmm -the rim lighting on the feathers and muted background lighting, subdued colors and the diagonal elements of this this pic really made it stand out. Viewing the image enlarged, I could only wish the lower right foreground was more in focus...Everything else about the bird is so incredibly sharp! However, this little "flaw" is almost unnoticeable due to the gray color...Truly a great shot - I can understand where the inspiration for feathering women's hats comes from!

Thanks for commenting on this. I really appreciate it. I really hate to use flash under any circumstance but sometimes you just have to compromise. I was also not fond of the blurred area so here is the one that I just took 3 days ago with the flash. The Dof is better this time I don't like the colors and the background. Guess I need to go back to the National Aviary again on a sunny day.

is better in the first one, I agree. Flash still eludes me - thank God for TTL! A sunny day will solve all problems, one hopes! The detail is definitely there in this second one, which I have played with a bit - for your amusement!

I prefer the one without flash, beautiful!

Wow! what a head dress!!!

Sorry, this isn't going to be a helpful comment at all, just a note on the national aviary. I went pittsburg and being the crazy birder child of my family my mom felt obligated to take a detour to the national aviary. This guy sticks out more then any other bird i saw there. He chased me around and pecked at my feet constantly (but in an adorible i want to be your friend way) the keeper there kept playing with him and once the keeper would start walking around the bird imeadatly get up and follow him, sometimes his mate would come too. Seeing such a big friendly bird made me smile :)