Yellowhammer

This is one of my favorite female yellowhammer images.  The light was not as harsh as in other shots I got that day and the dew on the grass added to the mood a little.  The females are less vibrant than the very bright yellow headed male.  Yellowhammers are declining in numbers in Ireland and tend to be spotted in south-eastern regions.  This one was taken in Laois at the Irish Photography Hide while photographing red squirrels. 

The 100-400mm lens plus 1.4 extender gave a reach of 560mm which was needed as the bird was a distance away.  I used my usual settings of open aperture of f8 with a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second. Auto ISO resulted in an ISO of 2000.  

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