Spotted Towhee

These birds tend to skulk in the vegetation behind my pond, then come rapidly directly toward me in a series of quick hops making framing and focus difficult for my slow reflexes. I was really happy that this one paused on the edge of the pool and gave me several frames with a couple of different head turns before it hopped in. This was my favorite.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

We have a very large number of Pine Siskins this year so keeping the droppings cleaned up is basically impossible. Therefore I had quite a bit of digital cleanup to do. Please let me know if you spot any anomalies.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Anything you note or might care to share.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 347 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick, f/8, 1/320, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image. Cropped to 4692 x 3108 before resizing for the web.

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Hi Dennis, very nice look at this elusive bird. The details and pose are really fine and I love that eye. I like the moss and rocks as a setting.

Dennis, this is a fine look at this beautiful bird. I’m not familiar with him, so I’m enjoying this excellent image of him. The setting is so natural looking, so that he just looks like he is out in the forest somewhere. The colors (love that eye) and details are excellent. No nits here.

Excellent image. Spotted Towhees are among my favorite birds, but I have not been able to get an acceptable photo of one. Close, but not quite. Nice capture.

Dennis, I simply love the pose and head turn. The composition is spot on. I don’t notice any digital clean up, that’s processing very masterfully done.

Really sweet pose here and your setting looks really natural. Tad bit dark for my taste but still a nice image.