Spotted Towhee

I’ve been getting a Spotted Towhee at my feeder setup for very brief periods the last few times I’ve been in the blind. I finally managed to catch it in the open and perched up for a fairly clean shot yesterday.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

I did a little burning/cloning on the background to reduce the distraction of the brighter grass stems. Too little? Too much?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

How does this composition work?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 335 mm, gimbal head mounted to blind window, f/8, 1/1600, iso 800 (cloud obscured the sun just as this bird came in and I ended up underexposed by over a stop, but I’m glad I didn’t adjust shutter speed as it really didn’t stop moving). Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 2742x3318 pixels before resizing for the web. Taken at 9:18 am yesterday under partly cloudy skies.

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As soon as I posted this, I saw that right angle grass stem under the perch and couldn’t unsee it. Here’s a fixed version:

That is one beautiful bird, Dennis. I love the perch he is on too. Love the position you caught him in too. Very nice.

The second version looks good.with the broken grass stem removed. These are tough characters to catych out in the open. Well done…Jim

Great dynamic pose, Dennis. Techs look very good, and I really like the angle and how you composed this frame. The repost with the broken grass blade cloned out is definitely better. I see these on branches, but only for an instant before they get on the ground. Nicely done.

Very nice action pose. Good detail and a nice perch. Really, an excellent job in capturing this species, which as you say, seems to be always in motion. My eye tends to be drawn a bit to the criss-cross grass stems on the left side.

Thanks, @Allen_Brooks. Now that you point it out, those stems really do draw my eye. I’ll have to do some further processing on this one.