Here’s a shot I took of a Stellar’s out in our backyard feeder area. I’ve seen, and shot lots of these guys but I’ve never seen one with a beak like this’n. Different. D500, Nikon 200-500 lens, Nikon 1.4 TC, 1/1000th, f 8.0, 700mm, ISO 3600, hand held, AI clear
I’ve heard of issues with birds having deformed beaks, Dave. This looks like the beak go crossed and there’s nothing for the two mandibles to wear against. Cage birds get these if they don’t have enough to wear their beaks down, and I’ve seen birds with one mandible that got broken off and the other one will curve over it, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here.
Nice image, by the way.
He may be odd but it’s a beautiful shot of him. Nice detail. Perhaps the brighter part of the perch could be toned down a bit?
The beak does look pretty strange. At first I thought it was a tongue but obviously not. Good job on focus and exposure.
