A Canada Jay ( Grey) photographed in Vermont on a cloudy morning. Tried a black n white because of the non descriptive sky using Silver Effex Pro ( wet rocks ) - since the target was very specific - the stump and bird
Tech Info
1/400 sec / F7.1 / iso 3200
Nikon D850, 600mm with 1:4 TC
I like the color version best, but think you could pull the shadows down a bit. The jay is a beauty. I’ve never seen one before. It looks blueish. Do both sexes have this color? I can’t get it to enlarge fully, but there seems to be a bit missing off the forehead. It merges with the background…not sure what happened there.
You did a good job on the pose, perch, and detail on this image. Very nice head turn. I prefer the black-and-white image primarily because your color image may have some chromatic aberration. With respect to composition I might cut off 5% of the right side to move the bird more towards the right side of the frame. I was able to locate this bird on iBird pro but there is no color other than white and gray tones on any of their images . I could not find the bird at all in Sibley’s guide to birds of North America. Perhaps there was a name change. So I can’t vouch for the identification. Thanks for including your technical information.
I agree with @David_Schoen that there’s something odd about the color in the color version… I’ve seen a lot of this bird and never noticed much of any color in it. The common name out here is Gray Jay, though I have heard it called Canada. Also known as Camp Robber. In well traveled mountain areas out here it comes to you for food. I like the pose and perch, but it feels a bit too bright from my memory of the bird (mostly the Pacific variation which is darker than the Rockies-I don’t have the East Coast variation in the book I’m looking at). I think I’d go with the B&W version, bring the darks down a bit and add some contrast. A great shot-it just needs a bit of tweaking.
Thanks for your observations @Kris_Smith , @David_Schoen and @Dennis_Plank
1- Old name Gray Jay ( p 356 Sibley ). Now called Canada jay - 3 variants from coast to coast with varying amounts of rust brow.
2 - Added the very same bird with green background taken a few minutes apart
3- reprocessed using LR only - original posted was given a boost in Luminar 4
4- David’s crop suggestion accepted
5- Unfortunately no blue sky to separate white top on its head from the background Kristen 
I can’t vouch for authenticity but I like the color version. It’s a small thing but I’d fix the blown highlight on the forehead with some cloning. Very interesting perch and a classic pose.
I like the color version best, and cannot judge on the colours - what I see (without knowing the bird) is very appealing to me and I love the combination with the perch. The repost looks a bit more natural though. Either way, beautiful shot of this bird ! Cheers, Hans
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