Blackbird lady or a Thrush ? + improvements

Monique, looks like a Juv blackbird to me. I would crop this to a horizontal and add some USM to the bird. Love the snow.

Good shot. I'm sure that juvenile and female blackbirds are heavily streaked on the breast, this one is not.

Latafat

Sans the glass, with the addition of a tripod, this would have been really nice. As is, it's lacking the punch, the crispness, the sharpness that I like to see. But the composition and added snow are nice. You did as well as possible under the circumstances.

Looks like a thrush to me. Too bad about the glass making it hard to get a sharp image.

The double pane window really killed the contrast but a lot of that can be regained in your photo program as well as some sharpening. I don't believe this to be a blackbird - at least not like any blackbird we have in NA. The bill doesn't look conical enough to me but I'm not an expert on all of the different blackbird varieties.

Cool bird, not sure what it is. I wonder if you can recoup the contyrast in PS? WOuld love to see it again with that and USM. Heck, good for hand held!

Hi Monique,

Alan is right, this is a female Blackbird (Turdus merula). Winter migrants from Scandinavia are often exhibit the pale, streaked colouration shown in your image.

The image will also sharpen-up with a further application of usm (try 0.3:350:2 followed by 0.3:80:2). It will also benefit by a general contrast enhancement - again, performed as an application of usm with the following settings 30:30:0.

Again, like Alan, I like the snow and it would look better with a horizontal crop. Pity you couldn't have move a little to the right to avoid the branch directly behind the bird's head. Pretty good for a grab-shot from inside the house though!

Best wishes

Phil Shaw wrote: The image will also sharpen-up with a further application of usm (try 0.3:350:2 followed by 0.3:80:2). It will also benefit by a general contrast enhancement - again, performed as an application of usm with the following settings 30:30:0.

Again, like Alan, I like the snow and it would look better with a horizontal crop.

Thanks Alan ,

and here he is , with the suggested improvements:

Monique, Open the window and retake the image!!
Make sure the bird is lured with the right kind of food!!!!