This European Starling stopped by my deck at my feeder. It was unusual to see him. He stayed around for long while until a squirrel chased him away. I know they have a bum rap but I just could not get over its beautiful colors. I had never see one up so close. I did photograph through a window.
If I could have done something different to enhance this photograph technically I am open to that input.
Nikon D500, 300mm, 1/2500 sec, F5/6, ISO 720
Very nice detail in the starling, Norma, and I like the old rail as a perch. You might want to look at cloning over or otherwise subduing that bright triangle in the lower right corner as it tends to drag my eye away from the bird. Nice pose and I also like the side lighting.
Nice detail, showing the colors well. Perhaps you could bring out some of the shadow detail in the belly. Agree with Dennis about the right lower corner.
Wonderful detail in the bird, Norma. I agree with Dennis on that right corner, if you can dim it down some.
Although pests, they ARE beautiful - that’s why they were called STARlings.
Nice pose and detail. I agree the bright areas should go.
Sandy
Very nice portrait of a beautiful bird. IF you darken the right lower corner, there is too little space to the right of the bird, for my liking. I’d prefer to keep it as is, or to extend the canvas a bit to place the bird further off centre after burning the bright corner. Don’t know if there is anything in the RAW image to the right of your frame?
@SandyR-B: why do you consider them pests?
@Han_Schutten. Starlings as pests: They’re not native to North America, but they have proliferated here tremendously and are very aggressive and early breeding cavity nesters. As such they tend to out compete our native cavity dwellers of anything close to the same size such as Bluebirds, Tree Swallows and Flickers.
Han, Good answer from Dennis, as always.
I see you are from the Netherlands. Welcome!
Here, they travel in huge flocks and cause incredible airline hazards. They also cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to agricultural operations yearly. Being an introduced species, European starlings are exempt from the Migratory Bird Treaty. (Although it is perfectly legal to trap/kill them)
They have grown from the original 100 released in New York City in the early 1860’s to more than 200 million now, and have adverse effects throughout the entire ecosystem.
It’s all Shakespeare’s fault, and a short-sighted guy in NY. 
More about that here in this short, interesting article, for those who want more!
S
Thanks, Dennis and Sandy. Interesting story in the link.
As usual, human introduced species cause problems.
Ironically, in Europe their numbers are declining. In the Netherlands with almost 50% in the past 20 years. Swarming is a spectacular sight, when thousands of birds look for a place to sleep or when they start to travel in the early morning. The patterns are almost similar to what you can observe with a shoal of fish. In Denmark, flocks of a million birds can be seen. I often see flocks in summer, just before sunset.
Great shot with lots of detail. A house is a wonderful way to photograph birds and it paid off for you here.
