Nuthatch+Repost

Steve, I like the comp very much. I agree this is a great look at the bird's feet and claws; very nice. I really like the BG too. The noise for ISO 1000 is quite exceptable IMO. I am excited to see the decent high ISO work because I just got my 7D. I can't wait to put it through its paces.

Looks like a snooty nuthatch with it's "nose" in the air like that Steve. I agree with you that the detail looks good and also that the feet and claws really are showcased here. Exposure on the whites looks good too.

Fine results for ISO 1000. I'd like to see more texture on the side of the neck, and more sharpness on the crown and bill (especially noticeable in the larger version). For the bird tis size in the overall composition I'd position it higher in the frame to get more wood texture and less "dead" space above the nuthatch.

Hi Steve. I like the comp, and the detail looks fine to me. I do think that the dark bg has quite a bit of noise.

Good pose with a nice look at the feet, nicitating membrane, and that "snooty" bill.

Thank you all for your comments. I enjoyed and learned from all of them. Must agree: this bird does look "snooty". Likely knows he's one of the only birds I could find that day.
Good luck with your new 7D, Ron!
P.S.: Notice that Adobe just announced that the 7D is now included in Lightroom (http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/ ) Hopefully we can now load the raw files directly into Lightroom without concern about quality degrading. (Should be the same for PS.) However, I do like the facility in the Canon software for seeing exactly where the focus point was on the image.
There is now a Beta Lightroom 3 too but I see adverse comments about a new import procedure.

Steve,

I like the pose of the nuthatch, how well the big feet show and the "snooty" look of the bird.

I agree with Rich on the texture on the neck and more sharpness on the crown & bill.

I like this as posted and think it could be a stronger image with a few adjustments.

O.K., I'll give it a try. Looks like this time I didn't use enough computer power. So, here's the image with both more sharpening to the head of the bird and more noise reduction to the background. Please tell me if it looks oversharpened or over noise reduced or if you see any kind of artifacts. I decided to give you all a really close-up view so this magnification may not be completely fair to the image and we'll need to take that into account. However, I don't think that the small version would show the detail we're discussing.

Oops, forgot the image. Here it is.