White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

These birds are nothing less than comical in the way they dart about

branches and flip upside down effortlessly. I was just able to slide

the tripod to get a branch out of obstruction. Still a bit

distracting, but not too bad. I appreciate all thoughts and critiques...

Maybe you could clone the branch out. Great shot anyway.

Nice shot. I think I would prefer to see this in portrait for more vertical space and to include the rest of the bird. And, the branch is a little distracting.

I completely agree about the branch being a bit distracting. I need to get better at cloning and blending as I haven't been able to do a very natural looking job on this one - I could always tell where details were removed.

 

As for the portrait orientation, that can be done. I'll upload an alternate with attempted cloning and see how it flies.

 

Thanks for the critique, I appreciate your feedback!

 

Edit: I have replaced the image with a vertical interpretation of the raw file. It's the same in every other way, just vertical now.