Maa Maa Come Baaack!

I'd sure hate to be feeding those hungry mouths. I like your choice of keeping the babies off to one side, but wonder if a bit more space on the left (and possibly top) would reduce the sense of crowding that I feel for the babies. It must have been great fun getting such a close view of three broods being raised.

Thank Mark..It was fun watching the chicks from my front door. But, what a mess, they did on my slate porch and column!!!

As I said, I didn't know how to crop this. The crowding is a good point. I chose this crop, because adding just a little to the left side would have put the edge of one of the chicks in dead center. As you can see, it was hard to keep the focus on the chicks and Mom's tail, without cutting the photo into 2 halves. I chose to split the difference. The nest 's shadow is a wee bit right of center. And the chick is just left of the mid line....any suggestions? I have room on all sides....including the whole nest and a large portion of the mom's tail shadow. Yet, I can't seem to make it work.
You are so right. I do think the chicks need more "air" above them and to the left. How much more would you put to the left and to the top. Double the width that is there?

I think in this case you can ignore the rule of thirds entirely. Why not post the full image and see if people have suggestions for cropping? For me, the right side of this image has a lot of dead space - the shadow of moms tail doesn't add much to the image in my opinion. And the left side feels crowded, as Mark pointed out. The nest is full of really nice details, too - and I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of it. So for me, more space on the top and left... and maybe the bottom too. And less on the right. And throw the rule of thirds out the window.

Here is the entire image