California Quail Pair

Gallery: AvianPosted August 17, 20171,202 views6 comments

Early this year, I moved into a house and as a result, haven't had the time to travel and photograph much (or do anything much outside fixing up the house). However, on the plus side our backyard opens up to a patch of woods in the mountains and we get some interesting birds to visit our feeder. California quails are one of our more frequent visitors. Usually they stay in flocks, but from early spring to mid summer, they show up mostly in pairs like the one shown here. I made this image late on evening and liked the alert poses of both the birds. I wanted to get both the quails sharp, but they stayed just too far apart. Still, I was happy to get both of them in the same frame.

Techs: 600mm, 1/60s@F10, ISO800, +1/3Ev.

Thanks for looking.

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on August 18, 2017 at 1:48 PM

I like the environmental pose. Well done.

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on August 18, 2017 at 9:31 PM

Great shot! Well composed, good detail, light and colors.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 19, 2017 at 2:11 PM

Sweet, Govind. Your choice of f/10 seems just about right to make the bg quail oof but still close enough that it works with the foreground quail. To my eye, the foreground bird does look just a touch oversharpened. I think you could back off just a tiny bit and stillhave it the center of attention in the image.

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

Comment posted by Peter J. Morrissey on August 19, 2017 at 2:30 PM

Hi Govind
I Like the low angle, head turn and eye contact.
Peter

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

Comment posted by David Schoen on August 20, 2017 at 1:24 PM

I particularly like the ground-level view of these quail. Nice head turn and detail. This is quail environment from my experience. The colors are right on. When I moved into my neighborhood 14 years ago, we also had frequent California quail visitors. But I haven't seen any in 12 years. And despite the fact that my general area of perhaps 100 square miles has not experienced very much growth in 12 years, I find that sad because the environmental pressure is coming from other surrounding areas that have experienced growth.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on August 20, 2017 at 6:06 PM

Nice low angle, eye contact and pose. Normally, I try not to have OOF birds in the background, but this works.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments