Western Meadowlarks tend to sing year round on sunnyish days and the young males do a lot of practicing in the fall. It is very common, particularly outside the breeding season, for them to sing from ground level or a very slightly elevated location like a rock. Finding them in the grasses when they’re singing is not easy and I usually fail, so I was very pleased to actually locate a couple when I was at the National Bison Range (a great place for Meadowlarks-there were a lot of them).
Anything. I didn’t really do much to this image besides the crop and a bit of feather enhancement. I do wish that one dead grass stem didn’t cross the beak, but it was in every frame where he had his beak open and I wanted a singing pose for this post.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, balanced on truck window, f/8, 1/200, iso 1600, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 3937x3150 before resizing. Noise reduction with Neat Image, and feather enhancement with Topaz Detail. Taken at 8:12 am on September 14th under cloudy skies.
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I feel you about the blade of grass, Dennis. I do think that it shows the habitat that these guys are usually found though (at least here in Southern California). I also like the singing pose and I think it has made the image stronger. I would suggest cloning out the whitish OOF blob on the LR corner, it is not too much of a distraction but it is one and is fairly easy to remove.
I really like this scene. Nice detail and color in the meadowlark. I suppose you could do some PS magic on the grass to make it appear as if it where behind the beak instead of in front, but really not a big deal for this nice habitat shot.
Nice work getting the eye unobstructed, Dennis. It would have been great if the blade of grass wasn’t going across the beak, but that is usually how I see them here too, especially this time of the year. The singing pose and hint of the yellow throat make this image for me. I am also enjoying seeing the variety of vegetation in the image.
