Western Spindalis

Gallery: AvianPosted March 11, 201665 views8 comments

One of North America's smallest tanagers. I photographed this bird in Cuba. Apparently they occasionally appear in Florida but no where else in the US and Canada. What is interesting to me about this shot is the shooting data. Nikon D810, 300 2.8, 1.4 tc, f 5.6, ISO 640, shutter speed 1/125. Hand Held. This bird suddenly appeared and I did not think it was in poor light and quickly took the shot. I am still very bad at quickly checking my settings before I shoot. This time I got lucky. The bird is sharp. Please check larger version. I am not a 25 year old body builder but leaning towards the aged state !!!

Thanks for looking and critiques or comments appreciated.

May

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 11, 2016 at 12:36 PM

Fine results for the specs given. This is one of those bir from the "back of the book" that used to fascinate US birders in the 60's and 70's,

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 11, 2016 at 5:54 PM

Nice and sharp, May. I like the pose and bg as well. I've found that you can get amazingly good results at relatively low shutter speeds hand holding by shooting a burst. It helps,of course, to be pretty close to the bird as you obviously were in this instance. Good job.

devil

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

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on March 11, 2016 at 8:18 PM

Nice and sharp image, May. The light is soft and complementary, and the minimal elements and background showcase this colorful bird very well. Techs look very good and nice comp as well. I don't see any nits. devil

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on March 12, 2016 at 5:14 AM

beautiful birds, well captured, May.

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Sandor on March 12, 2016 at 2:20 PM

May: very well done. The pose, perch and techs are spot on. And thanks for posting an image of a bird I'd never even heard of. Richard

Registered on January 12, 2014, 453 Posts, 1625 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on March 12, 2016 at 5:26 PM

Very nicely composed, May. Hand held at 1/125 is impressive.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on March 12, 2016 at 7:09 PM

Hi May,

You nailed this one. I do not see any evidence of camera shake and you have to give an assist to the tanager for sitting still for the shot. The BG is nice anfd has just enough colors to complement the plumage of the bird. Well done devil