A black bird is difficult to photograph. Black absorbs light instead of reflecting light so it is difficult to for the camera to “see” the differences between areas of the bird. Take this photo of a Fish Crow by docshaf for instance. He did a great job of capturing the image but a black bird is just hard to photograph. I don’t know what else he could have done to bring out more detail. There is a bit of reflection off the side of the black feathers but otherwise it is difficult to see much variation in the feathers..
Here’s another black bird, but there is something different about the feathers of a Common Grackle. They’re iridescent! Not many birds have iridescent feathers – hummingbirds, tree swallows, and the green head of a male mallard comes to mind. Most of the time when we see Grackles they appear black, but with the right light at just the right angle their feathers glow with a rainbow of colors. Paul Demkovich demonstrated this nicely in two recent shares.
Next time you see a Common Grackle, take some time and see if you can capture the colors on these “black” birds.
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