We don’t usually get many of these at our feeders, but I’ve had a couple sneaking in this winter and during the snow a couple of weeks ago we had four or five. While I don’t care for them because they’re bullies and try to usurp our Kestrel box (sorry, I much prefer Kestrels). However, I have to admit that they have lovely breeding plumage.
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Sony A7Riv, FE200-600 @ 600 mm, gimbal head mounted to blind, f/8, 1/400, iso 1600, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction (hardly needed) using Neat Image, feather enhancement using Topaz Detail 3, increased exposure of the bird relative to the background. Cropped to 7627x6102. Taken February 13th at 9:39 am.
Nice capture of this bird, Dennis on a nice perch. I like the head cock. I had many of these during our recent cold, snowy weather, taking over the feeders. Though their plumage is beautiful, I have a tough time liking these birds since they are non-native, and usurp many of our cavity nesting birds. I had a pair drive away a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers from a cavity one year.
Cheeky pose, and I love the detailed markings. I’d never noticed before that they have lots of chevrons. Do they form murmurations where you live, Dennis?
@Mike_Friel. They do form murmurations, though relatively small ones. We don’t really have the right habitat for huge numbers of them, though I remember attending a meeting one night in downtown Seattle and the small city trees along the street were completely packed with them, so they would probably form moderately large ones on their way in to roosts, though I never saw them do so up there.
Starlings are at their best while in winter plumage. The light spots disappear due to feather wear as the season progresses. I’m a sucker for high key so I do enjoy this comp. The pose is excellent as well…Jim
Hi Dennis
The Starling looks like one happy fellow. The feather detail and framing are great. The high key white hearts my eyes. (could be my monitor or the affect that Parkinson’s has on my eyes). Any way nice work.
Peter
An almost pensive pose on the startling. Good detail. I like the high key effect. I think you could brighten up the eye region with the pupil and dark plumage just to add a little separation. I know you like really black colors. We get a lot more starlings than you do around my place. I’ve had two or three over the winter which is really unusual. Last year wasn’t so bad but the year before we probably had close to 50 or 60 juveniles trying to slam the feeders. I actually had to stop feeding all birds for a while.
