Red Breasted Nuthatch with Bark

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

This Red Breasted Nuthatch showed up for just a few seconds and I was very lucky to be able to get two shots. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a nuthatch with anything other than seeds or nuts in its mouth. In fact this whole scenario happened so quickly that I was unaware of the piece of bark in the beak until I started processing the image. Taken in heavily cloudy conditions at medium elevation of iso. It had been raining on and off.

As I am still adapting to the new sharpness in NPN 2.0, any concerns about the sharpness in this posted image. With some very careful cloning, I could probably sharpen up the right-sided OOF edge of the top third of the bark on the right side. Any other concerns?

ISO 1600, 200-500 at 440 mm, F10, 400th, -0.1 EV, fill flash at -1, D 500, tripod, 80% of full frame with crop, DxO photo lab, Topaz adjust, TK sharpening action at 20%

Nuthatch-with-bark-copy-b
Nuthatch-with-bark-copy-b1312×1500 1.38 MB

2

This looks superb to me as posted, David. The nuthatch was probably removing the bark to check for insects underneath. Great catch.

3

No nits from me either. Sharp, nice pose and action. The background complements the nuthatch and perch.

4

Hallo, David, agree with the others, the image looks fine to me as posted. Crisp colors, nice composition and interesting subject. Wouldn’t change a thing, and sharpness looks good on my screen! Cheers, Hans

5

Hi David,

Good capture. All elements of this image are quite good. The subject gave you a nice moment for capture. Well done!

6

Looks fine to me. I find the colors and composition fine. Can see no evidence of the flash at all.