Marsh Wren

Gallery: AvianPosted June 8, 201395 views7 comments

Taken this morning deep within a cattail marsh. I spent over an hour near this one bird and got to watch some interesting behavior at close range. At one point he came within three feet of me, plucked some of the fluffy seeds from last year's cattail - and promptly swallowed them.

He was busy most of the time adding cattail fluff to his various nests in the vicinity, and called frequently.

Nikon D300; 400mm; f 4.5@1/500th; ISO 400; approx. 80%FF; HH, standing in my kayak.

All comments and suggestions most welcome - does this crop work?

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on June 8, 2013 at 10:38 PM

Excellent pose and details. Beautiful smooth BG. And even a great perch. I wish there was a bit more DOF to cover the tail, but that is minor. Very nice capture.

Registered on March 6, 2011, 95 Posts, 847 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on June 9, 2013 at 2:41 AM

Tom,

The crop is OK by me. Always nice to see an image with "action"

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on June 9, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Real nice, Tom...hard to catch these guys still and that tail seems to be always flipping up. I like this a lot! Excellent details down to the fluff on the bill tip! Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on June 9, 2013 at 1:07 PM

Sweet, Tom. Wonderful to catch this guy completely in the open and in full throat. If it were mine, I'd probably take a bit more off the bottom, but vertical presentations always seem tall to my eye.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on June 9, 2013 at 8:32 PM

Nice job of getting this shot standing in a kayak. I like the pose, perch and darker background. I might add just a small amount of canvas to the right side of image but the vertical crop works fine for me. Well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on June 10, 2013 at 4:03 AM

A stunning shot Tom. The detail in the large image is outstanding, right down the bits of cattail fluff on his beak and head. The dark background serves really well to show off the colours of what is not a particularly colourful bird.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on June 10, 2013 at 10:48 AM

Great shot. You are a better man than I am standing in a kayak.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments