Western Bluebird

Gallery: AvianPosted July 26, 201389 views8 comments

Well, I wanted something more recent to post and our resident bluebird gave me some really nice opportunities yesterday evening. It was perched on the apple tree when I went out to shoot and kept returning on its way to the nearby nest box. He's looking a bit bedraggled as befits him since he's working on his second brood of the summer. Interestingly, as soon as the first brood fledged a pair of Violet Green swallows took their box and the Bluebirds moved to a box that tree swallows had used earlier. As evidence of the feather wear to be expected, I watched for half an hour this morning and the male and female each made 5 entries to the box.

7D, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, Black Widow on RRS legs, f8, 1/400, iso 640, Av mode with -1/3 stop compensation. Processed in CS6 and cropped to 8.8MP. Taken July 25th at 8:03 pm.

Your comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on July 27, 2013 at 12:47 AM

So natural for these great parents. We love them and get many hours of interesting activity. Color especially true for breeding time

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on July 27, 2013 at 2:26 AM

Nice light and contrast Dennis

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Dave Walz on July 27, 2013 at 10:08 AM

Very nice light and pose. The pose, perch and background are also very good. We have the eastern variety here in Florida and they are very interesting to observe.

Registered on September 26, 2011, 22 Posts, 67 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on July 27, 2013 at 10:54 AM

Top Notch image Dennis. Lovely light, pose and perch. The bug is just icing on the cake. Very nice.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Peter J. Morrissey on July 27, 2013 at 1:14 PM

Great detail and color.
Peter

Registered on July 3, 2011, 188 Posts, 969 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Leekam on July 27, 2013 at 2:19 PM

Excellent shot made so particularly by the light. This puts the subject & perch into superb contrast with the BG. Of course the prey adds that Nature story.

Registered on May 28, 2009, 83 Posts, 646 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on July 28, 2013 at 1:00 AM

Dennis,

Great catch for both of you