Grackle in the early morning

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Grackle in the early morning

May 3, 2016 by Mike Powell

Early yesterday morning at Huntley Meadows Park this Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) seemed to be sending me a definite “Don’t mess with me” message. Fortunately the grackle eventually loosened up a bit and I was able to capture some additional images in a mini portrait session.

I captured these images around 6:30 on a misty, overcast morning. There was some light, but not a whole lot, so I was forced to set my ISO relatively high at ISO 1600. I was shooting in aperture priority mode and I didn’t realize until later that the shutter speeds for these shots was between 1/15 and 1/30 of a second. Considering that I was shooting with my lens zoomed out to 600mm, it’s surprising that these shots are not completely blurry (though they are a bit grainy). I am convinced that the built-in image stabilization of the lens really helps in situations like this.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Grackle, grackle, Huntley Meadows Park, Quiscalus quiscula, Tamron 150-600mm | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on May 3, 2016 at 5:53 am | Reply svtakeiteasy

What beautiful plumage Mike! Thise deep colours are superb.
- on May 3, 2016 at 5:55 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Chris. One of the advantages of the cloudy morning was that the colors were really saturated thanks to the diffused light.
on May 3, 2016 at 6:22 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

It looks like a bird on a mission.
on May 3, 2016 at 6:34 am | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Lovely shots! You’ve really captured that “oil in a puddle” plumage.
- on May 3, 2016 at 6:37 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. Sometimes grackles look to be totally black to me, but this time there was a whole spectrum of colors that your words “oil in a puddle” conjure up really well.
on May 4, 2016 at 7:16 am | Reply mindoftwo

Hello Michael,

just found you here your Pictures are so great and happy to found you
We love your blog so much .
Say Hello at our blog and lets friends if you love it ❤

Your Toby and Anni
- on May 5, 2016 at 4:05 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I checked out your blog and enjoyed it very much. It looks like you are pretty new to the blogging world. Best wishes as you move forward–I have found blogging to be very enjoyable and a bit addictive.