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Small Grey Tit


Small Grey Tit
Photo Information
Copyright: Gert Ellstrom (ellis49) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3386 W: 343 N: 9445] (30711)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-03-06
Camera: Canon EOS 40 D, Canon EF 300mm / F2.8 L USM, Digital RAW 400, Canon Extender EF 1.4x II
Exposure: f/5.0, 1/125 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): CeltickRanger's favorite Bird photos -3- [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-03-06 5:55
Viewed: 1430
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 48
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
First I will thank all for the nice comments and words of my last post.

Today’s post is a small grey tit, not sure if it is a Willow Tit or a Marsh Tit.
Even the bird experts have problem to separate the two species, especially in winter with lot of young birds, The Willow Tit have a bigger black “helmet” and a bigger black spot under the beak and sometime a weak white streak in the wings feathers as this one seem to have.
So i think it’s a Willow Tit and I really feel sorry for him, he is alone at feeders and the Bigger Great Tit always chase him away and they are in big numbers but he manage to get a sunflower seed or a nut sometime to survive.
What I like most of this picture is he spread the tail to show all the grey tones.
The morning was mild, only +-0C with overcast sky so the light was not the best but still good enough for a decent picture but with a bit short DOF.
I hope like the small tit.

The Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and northern Asia. It is more of a conifer specialist than the closely related Marsh Tit, which explains it breeding much further north. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate.
In the east of its range it is much paler than Marsh Tit, but as one goes west the various races become increasingly similar, so much so that it was not recognised as a breeding bird in Great Britain until the end of the 19th century, despite being widespread.
The Willow Tit is distinguished from the Marsh Tit by a sooty brown instead of a glossy blue black cap; the general colour is otherwise similar, though the under parts are more buff and the flanks distinctly more rufous; the pale buff edgings to the secondaries form a light patch on the closed wing. The feathers of the crown and the black bib under the bill are longer, but this is not an easily noticed character. However, the more graduated tail (not square) shows distinctly when spread. Length is 11.5 cm, and wings range from 60-70 mm.
The commonest call is a nasal zee, zee, zee, but the notes of the bird evidently vary considerably. Occasionally a double note, ipsee, ipsee, is repeated four or five times.
The Willow Tit often excavates its own nesting hole, even piercing hard bark; this is usually in a rotten stump or in a tree, more or less decayed. Most nests examined are cups of felted material, such as fur, hair and wood chips, but feathers are sometimes used. The number of eggs varies from six to nine, with reddish spots or blotches.
Birds feed on caterpillars, insects and seeds, much like other tits.

Source and more Info in different language here

Canon 300mm/F2.8 L, 1,4X Extender, Tripod
ISO 400, Raw-format, AV.mode, spotmeteing +1/3 Ev
Converted in Canon DPP, Levels, Contrast, Crop, resized to 800 pixels, Smart Sharpen ,PP in PS CS4.
Well calibrated Eizo monitor
bobcat08, gannu, peter_stoeckl, Marx44, iris, Luis52, CeltickRanger, Noisette, bikefifty, siggi, nglen, eqshannon, Argus, oanaotilia, haraprasan, Morigann, ramthakur, Silvio2006 has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To ramthakur: Murphy's lawellis49 1 03-06 06:40
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Critiques [Translate]

Ciao Gert, beautiful diagonal composition with lovely bird in great pose, fine details and splendid sharpness, perfect focus and wonderful blurry BG, very well done, ciao Silvio

Thanks a lot for your kind words on my recent picture showing spring wild flowers.
Before I express my views on your picture, I have to share with you my frustration at not being able to take even a single decent shot of this type of bird I saw in my native place recently. It was everywhere and I tried to shoot it time and again, but the results were miserably poor. Mostly out of focus. The reasons were: 1) I had no tripod with me 2)The bird was restless and did not stop at a place for more than five seconds 3)I have only the 70-300mm tele-lens and it has started misbehaving -- takes too long to auto focus and its motor makes hell of a noise.
Later, I identified it as Great Tit and even though my pictures of it are useless, I will post one just for record one of these days.
On the other hand, your picture of this Tit taken with your 300mm is marvellous. The focus is immaculate and the colours and details are true to life. Feeders are certainly an advantage in terms of distance between you and the subject.

Thanks a lot for sharing this great picture. I also enjoyed reading your well written note.
Regards,
Ram

Salut Gert,
this is a superb capture of a cute tit.
The natural colors are wonderful,the POV & DOF are very good.
Very well done.`
Regards
Pierre

Hi Gert,
A nice capture of this beautiful tit bird. Superb composition and good details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

hello Gert
great composition
with good details of the bird
nice light
greeting lou

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3748 W: 186 N: 11161] (34473)
  • [2009-03-06 7:03]

Hej Gert,
Another fine small bird portrait from you!
I agree that this is the Willow Tit, shown by the more greyish tones, the light edges of the wing feathers and the 'bull neck' shape well shown here. Of course the easiest way to tell the difference between this and the Marsh Tit is the typical call that this species makes: the Tehh, tehh (tää, tää) sounds are not made by the Marsh Tit.
Nice POV, pose and excellent technical qualities,
Trevlig helg!
Hälsningar,
Ivan

hi gert,
simple and beautiful image of this cute tit. tfs.
nagraj.v

SUPER,SUPER I JESZCZE RAZ SUPER.UJECIE PIERWSZA KLASA.OK

Spot sharp on the aviary. It seems just a bit like the colours of my chickadee. I could theoretically put this one in my favorite birds list....I wonder at the differences...some birds are like that...well geared, superior notes in order to share your technique and thinking.
Bob

Ciao Gert,
what a wonderful picture of a Grey Small Tit taken with superb sharpness in a very nice composition, i like the pose of this cute bird and the delicate colours against a very good neutral BG.
Best regards
Have a good weekend
Maurizio

  • Great 
  • fiyo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 986 W: 5 N: 2715] (10472)
  • [2009-03-06 10:26]

Merhaba Gert,
her zaman olduğu gibi çok güzel bir fotoğraf.
Doğal renkleri, netliği ve kompozisyonuyla çok güzel olmuş.
Tebrikler.

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2860 W: 34 N: 8481] (31692)
  • [2009-03-06 10:50]

Hi Gert. This is such a cute looking little bird. I to find it hard to tell the difference. You have taken a good side view . We can see you have sharp focusing from the tail to the tip of its head. ith fine detail and natural colours in the featehrs.. All with interesting notes. well done TFS

Nick..
Have a good weekend.

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2345 W: 92 N: 5348] (17102)
  • [2009-03-06 11:10]

Hello mghert,
A fantastic photo of this Willow Tit (yes!). Ivan has explained a lot and I can tell you that the head of the Willow Tit is greater than the head of the Marsh Tit. (bulls head)
Very good quality photo in colours, sharpness and composition. Beautiful OOF BG.
Have a great weekend,
Peter

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1336 W: 56 N: 4502] (15508)
  • [2009-03-06 11:20]

Hello Gert,
Excellent capture, so clear and sharp,nice depth of field, lovely blurred background, good composition and point of view, fantastic vivid colors and superb details, great pose and facial expression.
Best regards Siggi

I am not a bird expert, but this looks very similar to the Black-capped Chickadee we have in our area.

I like this shot a lot. The angle of the branch and the blurred back ground make it interesting. The lighting, focus and exposure are very good.

Take care - Bob

Hello Gert
Wow this grey tit is superb !!
the color tones of this shot is wonderful as well as sharp details, the composition, the pose of the bird and the blurred BG
Have a nice WE
Jacqueline

hello Gert

very beautiful photography of the Small Grey Tit,
shot with fine POV and framing, beautiful luminosity
of the image, great sharpness and details of the bird's plumage,
i love his wings and tail's plumage pose, TFS

Asbed

Hello Gert,
A lovely capture of this little Willow Tit.
What a shame the larger birds all chase him away from the feeder.... I wouldn't ;)
Thanks for sharing this cute species.
Cheers
Steve

  • Great 
  • Luis52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1109 W: 5 N: 3453] (12751)
  • [2009-03-06 19:05]

Hola Gert.
Great photo. The diagonal composition is just the right way to show this exellent image. Very clear and sharp as usual.
Luis52.

hello Gert
wonderful capture of a small Tit
very good composition
I like his feathers that they fold,'polite gesture'
excellent photo
best regards
Nasos

Hi Gert,
The composition is very good in this beautiful picture.
Lovely colours, very good details and DOF.
Well done.
Marx

Dear Gert,
very lively, very precise capture of the Willow Tit. Very attractice composition, noble colours. A great delight to pleasure to see in such details from your masterly point of view. Thank you!
With best regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • gannu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1169 W: 4 N: 3260] (14687)
  • [2009-03-07 8:53]

Gert, This is a super shot with a strong focus on the eyes. Brilliantly captured wih full details. Ganesh

Hello Gert,

Again a great composition with good details of the bird. Razorsharop wit perfect clarity.
POV, DOF and BG are oké.

Greetings and TFS BOB

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