Female WesternMeadowlark

Nice atypical perch and I like the triangular shapes in this image though wish for more DOF in the front - though the image is soft overall

I'm curious on how you determined this was a female. I've always thought male and female meadowlarks looked the same. What am I missing here?

Dennis I really like the perch and bird! It's looks great considering your large crop. They are beautiful subjects. I bet you will be back.

Dennis, this image looks good to me in the smaller version but the effects of being a distant shot and large crop is apparant in the larger version. I would try more sharpening on just the bird and see what results you get. I would also suggest cloning out the pine needles that are protruding from it's back and top of it's head. If you get good results with sharpening the bird this will be a fine image.

wow, what an odd combination of meadowlark and conifer--at least compared to what I'm used too--here they like it where there's nothing taller than your waist. I like the comp you chose with the angled treetops and the colors and setting. the bird is not quite as detailed as would be ideal but it's hard to say if that's due to the crop or other factors.

A meadowlark in an evergreen...you've just blown my mind! Well, OK, to be fair, we don't really HAVE too many evergreens around here, but...seems weird to me to see one on anything but a fence post!

Very cool shot.

Really nice setting and detail Dennis.
Where's the obligatory fence post?
I'd be tempted to remove the mowhawk errupting from the birds head??

cheers
Rob

Dennis. nice attempt at this meadowlark and the evergreen is def a different perch for this species. I think the comp would have been stronger withtout the OOF branches behind the bird. I also agree with others that the bird is soft. That's the problem with large crops, if the bird is not perfectly sharp any softness is really enhanced by the crop. Just my observations on the shot.

Richard asked: "I'm curious on how you determined this was a female. I've always thought male and female meadowlarks looked the same. What am I missing here? "

Actually, Rich, my wife, who is a Meadowlark enthusiast, to say the least, is the one who determined the sex.

It's subtle, but in the males, the upper part of the yellow bib that extends into the cheek area goes all the way to the root of the beak. In the females, there is the patch of buff color between the yellow and the beak root. Note that this only works for the Western Meadowlark. In the eastern, the male is closer to the Western female and the female theoretically has no projection of the yellow into the cheek area. Probably not very useful information in the field!

She uses Peter Pyle's "Identification Guide to North American Birds" as the reference. It's pretty useless as a field guide, since it's black and white. I suspect it's intended for museum specimens, but it works pretty well with photos as well.

As to the Evergreen perch, the preserve where I shot this bird is in a remnant prairie ecosystem left from the last glaciation and maintained by Native American burning practices. Since burning ceased, Douglas Firs have invaded and covered most of the old prairies, except those that have been turned into developments and parking lots. I'm fortunate enough to live next door to 1000 acres that are under preservation, though even that has 200-300 acres covered by Douglas fir and occasional clumps elsewhere. We're reducing the evergreen presence slowly and reestablishing a burn regime, as well as reintroducing native forbs and grasses.

Cheers,

Dennis

Great view of that beautiful breast. I like the colors with the green perch and blue sky background.

Dennis,
beautiful pose, perch and colors. I really like this comp.

Hi Dennis It's nice to see a meadowlark on a evergreen Thanks for sharing this lovely bird. enjoyed your comments on the identification of the bird.
Albert Darmo. Canada

What a beautiful bird Dennis, looks great on the evergreen.
Good details even with the large crop, nice one