Starlings Return

[ColytonJohn]

We’ve been fortunate enough to have Starlings nesting in our roof-space for years and the scaffolding we had around the house all last year gave our resident male the perfect perch to perform from (and a nice perch for me to enjoy and capture it from).

Unfortunately the work I was doing on the house meant that, after his brood had fledged and they'd all flown off to wherever they go, the nest was going to be blocked off as I was replacing all the fascias, soffits, etc. Not wanting to lose them, however, I built them a nice new house but wasn't sure they'd take to it but they’ve just returned and they seem happy with the new arrangements.

Now the scaffolding has been taken down I won’t be able to get any more shots like those I posted last year but here’s some from a series I’ve only just discovered while setting keywords. As can be seen he was quite happy to look me in the eye and perform his little song and dance routine for the camera.

IMG_3195-Edit-2 by ColytonJohn, on Flickr

IMG_3205 by ColytonJohn, on Flickr

IMG_3151 by ColytonJohn, on Flickr

Cheers,
John

[CountDavid]

Re: Starlings Return

I don't know much about birds and did not appreciate the range of colours starlings had, particularly on the underside.
A nice piece of work

David

[Stan]

Re: Starlings Return

Some good poses on 1 and 2 but I don't know what you have done in processing but I have never seen starlings that colour

stan

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Starlings Return

Thanks folks

Some good poses on 1 and 2 but I don't know what you have done in processing but I have never seen starlings that colour

stan

I double checked my processing and all I've really applied is a bit of sharpening, balanced the light and applied a (small amount) of clarity and vibrancy. Despite the appearance nothing was too over the top so I think it must be an example of the wonderful iridescence Starlings are rightly famous for brought out by the clarity of light we had at the time. Or I could need a new monitor

Cheers,
John

[the black fox]

Re: Starlings Return

it does look a tad to purple john .i would go back to your p/p and using the eye drop tool get the grey correct on the tubing .its your initial w/b thats out

[Alan Campbell]

Re: Starlings Return

3rd one looks spot on, just not sure about the first 2 as the saturation looks high.

Alan

[Alan_H]

Re: Starlings Return

The third one looks correct but if you have processed them the same then I don't know

Alan

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Starlings Return

What I believe I did was to sync the settings for them all and, while that can be a tad unpredicatable, look at the colour of the scaffold pole in the three images. It looks so similar that I'd have thought that if the first and second images were out then the third would have been too. Or, conversely, if the third is OK, then the first and second should be too.

Tomorrow though I'll see if I still have the jpegs as that may be illuminating.

Cheers,
John

[tesarver]

Re: Starlings Return

Some very nice poses you have captured John

Tom

[the black fox]

Re: Starlings Return

i have lived for nearly 69 years john and in all honesty i can say i have never seen purple scaffold poles before unless its a devon thing of course

[Birdy]

Re: Starlings Return

Well the scaffold poles could be painted as several companies mark them for identification, but the Starling seems somewhat over colourful. What I do like though is the wing markings on the first shot which I've not noticed before.

[Bill53]

Re: Starlings Return

The colours look more natural in the last shot, the pink/purple colouring on the scaffold tubes reminds me of Non Destructive weld testing dye.

Bill.

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Starlings Return

Thanks to all for looking

i have lived for nearly 69 years john and in all honesty i can say i have never seen purple scaffold poles before unless its a devon thing of course

They really are a vivid pink and, as said, different scaffolders use different colours to quickly identify their kit when mixed up on site.

Cheers,l
John

[DaveG001]

Re: Starlings Return

Thanks for sharing
Very unusual - I like the colouring
Cheers
Dave

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Starlings Return

Thanks Dave

Cheers,
John