Purple Finch

[Husain Alfraid]

Hello again,

today i have 3 pictures of a male Purple Finch, i'm not 100% sure.
"Tricky Bird IDs: House Finch, Purple Finch, and Cassin's Finch" (birds.cornell.edu)

Location: Terre Haute, IN. USA
Lens: Sigma 50-500mm

The color: its more like light pink. pretty much pale. i couldn't recognize its color during that snowy environment until i zoomed in to it. I assume its a young bird. older ones might develop more feather which is more darker color
i figured if it was spring or summer where the background could more likely to be green, the true color of this bird would pop out more to the foreground . (maybe?!)


Model: NIKON D700
Shutter Speed: 1/60 second
F Number: F/6.3
Focal Length: 370 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Date Picture Taken: Jan 27, 2009, 12:11:36 PM


he has a funny look here

Model: NIKON D700
Shutter Speed: 1/60 second
F Number: F/6.3
Focal Length: 370 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Date Picture Taken: Jan 27, 2009, 12:09:29 PM


Model: NIKON D700
Shutter Speed: 1/60 second
F Number: F/6.3
Focal Length: 370 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Date Picture Taken: Jan 27, 2009, 12:09:23 PM


thank you for taking time to look at my work.
Husain
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(Note: if you want to see even larger sizes, click on the picture and download the file)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Husain,

Still I wonder are they this light? I have not seen them in real life, so I do not know. I see you use the 50-500 Sigma zoom. Is that held freehand or on a tripod with a gimbal.

Asher

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Taxonomy aside, these are wonderful images, Husain. I find that first image particularly appealing. The tonality suggests "the ultimate snow bird". (Asher lives in California, so he doesn't understand such things.) That would make a very good stock shot for editorial use, since it has beautiful rich, but flat, text space.

Well done Husain. Thank you for posting these.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The tonality suggests "the ultimate snow bird". (Asher lives in California, so he doesn't understand such things.)

Quite right, Ken,

I know foxes in the arctic have a different coat for the winter. It makes sense. Blending in is important for survival. They just have enough distinctive coloring for mates to take notice, I guess!

They are beautiful creatures. If that Sigma lens is the one I'm thinking of it is rather large and heavy. I'm impressed if these are hand held.

Asher

 

[Husain Alfraid]

Hi Husain,

Still I wonder are they this light? I have not seen them in real life, so I do not know. I see you use the 50-500 Sigma zoom. Is that held freehand or on a tripod with a gimbal.

Asher

yes i used a 50-500mm zoom. i did not use a tripod. it was handheld all the time, but sometimes i lean on a tree to keep me steady...u know, that canon is heavy.

These birds are pale ..and when you try and increase the saturation they turn to pink...which its not their color (like pink panther lol)


cheers

 

[Don Cohen]

These are very pleasing images, especially the first.

Regarding the tonality, I think overall the histogram is shifted a bit to the right, and could be tweaked for a different, somewhat darker appearance. That said, the more I like at them, the more I like the 'lightness' as it seems to match the overall subject matter.

 

[Eric Diller]

Very cool looking bird. Never have seen one of those before and the snow...well it has been 20 plus years for that as well (LOL). Nice captures...

 

[janet Smith]

These are all lovely, no birds like that here, I wish there were! I have to agree with Ken about the first one, so gentle, just beautiful.

 

[Husain Alfraid]

thank you so much,

i think these birds live in the NE of the US and Canada mostly!


more little bird sometimes soon

 

[John Sheehy]

thank you so much,

i think these birds live in the NE of the US and Canada mostly!


more little bird sometimes soon

The purple finches only winter here in the NYC area, and not consistently. In the warmer months, they are well north of here.

The house finches seem to be pretty static, throughout the calendar. I see them on my terrace all year, and in the spring, they try to get through my window to my hanging plants. I hear their wings buzzing against the glass.

Watch out; little birds can be addicting.

 

[Andy brown]

Great shots Alfraid,

My comment is less about photography and more more about the chooks( sorry, the aussie vernacular just won't leave me).
In Aus. we have many extraordinarily colourful finches, some real stunners ( no pics I'm afraid) but they tend to live in hot dry climates. This seems to suit their feeding habits where lots of grass seeds are available.
It seems quite incongruous for me to see a finch in the snow.

 

[John Sheehy]

Great shots Alfraid,

My comment is less about photography and more more about the chooks( sorry, the aussie vernacular just won't leave me).
In Aus. we have many extraordinarily colourful finches, some real stunners ( no pics I'm afraid) but they tend to live in hot dry climates. This seems to suit their feeding habits where lots of grass seeds are available.
It seems quite incongruous for me to see a finch in the snow.

Does this one look familiar?

This one is supposed to be from your part of the globe, but I found it in a large park in the Bronx on Nov 2, '05. The names I've seen for it are "Rice Munia" and "Nutmeg Mannikin". Sorry for the quality; I probably cropped a JPEG embedded in a RAW real quick to post it back then for a quick ID.

 

[Husain Alfraid]

thanks everybody.


John, thats a beautiful bird. brown color makes smaller birds look fancy