Shot of the Month – December 2021

Capturing a good image of an all black bird is quite tough.  Exposing properly to bring out the detail in the black feathers usually leaves the rest of the image overexposed.  This image of a crow, captured in Wyoming, is one of the few times the lighting worked out.

I love the simplicity of the composition and the basic “primary” colors in this scene — simple but bold blue, black, and white.  Of course these are not true primary colors –  as we know from elementary school the three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue.  But I think you get my drift.

I have to also note that I am only about 90% confident that this is a crow, which is a member of the Corvidae family.  Also in this family is the Raven which looks very similar though ravens are usually larger, sound a bit different, and have a few other different physical traits.  Here is a good video that highlights the key differences and clues on how to identify a Crow from a Raven.

Given the shorter, even-shaped bill, I am going with crow for my image.

As you may have heard, crows are incredibly intelligent and one of the few animals able to use tools.  Watch the video below, it is one of my all-time favorites as it clearly demonstrates the mind- boggling problem-solving skills of crows.

There you have it – a bright image of a very bright bird.

Until next month….

Nikon D4S, Nikon 200-400mm (@400mm), f/8, 1/1500 sec, ISO 400, -0.667 EV