Peter - your subject has immediate impact; a clear eye, great detail, and an engaging pose that come together nicely. The image is genuinely interesting and would do well in competition I would think. That said, I thought the image might benefit from a tighter crop as there might be a touch too much canvas on the left side of the frame, but it's not a deal breaker. What does pull my eye from the subject are the branches to its right. Not knowing your feelings on such things, if I could make one concrete suggestion I'd remove most of the branches to the right of the subject with the PS remove tool. Nonetheless, your technical presentation is outstanding as usual.   Posted: 04/01/2026 12:09:31

I, too, thought a vertical might be stronger.   Posted: 04/01/2026 16:25:14

This cuckoo is a lot different than the caterpillar eating birds we call Cuckoo's in the north-eastern US! This is a beautiful image both of the subject and background. You did a great job handling the contrast between the parts of the bird in sun and shadow. I like the horizontal crop to give the bird something to look into, but I may have gone a little tighter.   Posted: 04/02/2026 12:17:48