An old friend drops in

There’s a bit of motion blur and maybe the focus is a touch off on the bird in this image, but I’m posting it because I found the plumage very interesting. I’d always thought of the breast feathers as being quite small and hugging the contour of the body, but this (probably female) bird has extremely long, soft ones on either side of the brood patch, presumably to provide optimal insulation for its eggs. Just something I’d never photographed before.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

I replaced the rear part of the perch from another frame where I focused on it. Let me know if there are any anomalies you can detect around the edges.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Anything.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 421 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick, f/8, 1/500, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Background part of perch replaced with the same element from another frame. Image cropped to 4644 x 3174 pixels before resizing for web.

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1 Like

What a cute little guy/girl, Dennis. They are some most unusually long feathers on it’s breast and like a part in the middle. The perch looks great to me. Nice image.

Interesting. Are the feathers long and puffy because it was in the pond and is currently drying out? Or is this just a variation of plumage length?

Image quality aside, this is a very nice plumage as you have mentioned. I am also curious what the bird has been doing prior to this. You have an excellent perch, Dennis. I don’t think I have noticed anything funky with the edges/perch.