Ridiculous Perch

Gallery: AvianPosted December 19, 2013145 views3 comments

But this is the best opportunity I've ever had with an American Kestrel, so I wasn't going to pass it up. This one was hanging around our place all afternoon, moving from perch to perch. I'd taken the cat our for a "walk" and saw it was still around, so I grabbed the camera. Unfortunately, one of the bluebird/swallow boxes covered with a garbage bag for the winter was my closest approach.

1Div, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, hand held, f7.1, 1/2000, iso1000, Av mode with no compensation. I boosted the exposure about half a stop in post processing and cropped quite a bit-final image is 5.7MP. I'm hoping this Kestrel will hang around-it was amazingly easy to get close to for this species. Taken this afternoon in my front yard at 2:21 pm under filtered winter sun.

Your comments and criticisms are much appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on December 20, 2013 at 8:02 AM

I wouldn't pass it up either! So handsome a bird, it makes up for the perch! You captured nice details on her. I think you might be able to brighten the image a tad more. Lucky you to have one in your yard! Sharon

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

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on December 20, 2013 at 11:55 AM

Dennis...I'm with Sharon...wouldn't apes it up...not an easy bird to get close to.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on December 23, 2013 at 2:42 PM

Dennis I agree about just maybe brighten the image a tad, but to me the bird looks fantastic with those lovely soft looking fluffed out feathers and a very relaxed pose, excellent.
Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments