Beautiful, Diane. I prefer the lighting you got on this one to the earlier post. I’m not seeing a red eye-just looks a bit more saturated orange than the usual yellow to me. I don’t know how much variation there is in the eyes-an interesting question. The tail plume doesn’t bother me-there’s enough illumination of the shadowed part to make it out.
There’s quite a bit of difference in the eyes, which I think I’ve seen before but would have to look back at a lot of shots to be sure. Not as red as some eyes, but it strikes me as more than just the light.
Definitely a significant difference. I don’t have many shots of this species in breeding condition, but I can look back at those times I might have gotten some. It’s definitely oranger than I recall ever seeing.
Nice catch Diane - the shadow of the stick on the wing is pretty cool. I noticed the unique eye color too - not sure if that is just a variant or what. Interesting though. Nice composition, wing position and exposure. Well done.
Thanks, @Dennis_Plank, @Ed_Williams, @Jim_Zablotny and @Allen_Sparks. Maybe the first one (with the yellow eye) was just a little low on breeding hormones. I think the color intensifies during breeding season? But that’s about the only time I see them.
Thanks, @David_Schoen and @Chris_Calohan! I didn’t know about the eye color change – I’ll try to add it to the faltering memory database. So much to know about birds!!
