Blue Grouse

[Josh_Houchin]

Below are a couple pictures from a September blue grouse hunt last year. Please feel free to comment your likes or dislikes, I am certainly novice but I am eager to learn more to improve.

The first is a tailgate shot of male blue grouse. I am fairly happy with the shot though I wish I would have included a bit more of the ridge in the background. I like the shallow DOF as I was trying to highlight the tail band of the bird but I was struggling to get the detail of the fan and be able to include the ridgeline.

The second is a shot I desperately wanted to turn out well but sadly didn't. I drove into the wildlife area on the two track fairly early in the morning with intention of eating a campfire breakfast and taking a couple shots of the sun rising over the Rockies. I took a lot of different shots but this was the only one that turned out at least halfway decent. I promised myself to get more knowledgeable about shooting in low light conditions as I was frustrated at how the image turned out in comparison to actually being there.

 

[deeky]

The grouse looks like a beautiful bird - wish I could see more of it here. The position of the body looks a little haphazard. Try propping the tail so you can look straight down the body of the bird and let the saddle of the bird lead into the tail.

Aside - I'm jealous. Would love to tie with some of those feathers. All kinds of pheasants around here, but I really like the blue and black in those feathers. Nice!

 

[Josh_Houchin]

They are great flies to tie with. I could send you some if you would like... I attached a few more photos.

The below bird was taken by a friends son this last Sept with an early 1900's Parker shotgun.

This photo is blue grouse hen taken with my waterproof Fujifilm camera while fishing for cutthroats on a high mountain stream.

 

[deeky]

Now that bird shot I like!!! little niggles here and there but a very nice setup.