This bird was photographed in Yellowstone National Park during the late afternoon earlier this month. I don't know the species, so if anyone could let me know, I'd appreciate it. Image shot with a Canon 300/4L at 4.0 (I don't remember the shutter speed). No filter. Provia 100F. Any criticisms would be helpful. Thanks.

-- Elliot Negelev (elliot.negelev@telus.com), May 25, 2001

Answers

I'm not a birder, but I think the feathered legs and feet might belong to a ptarmigan? I'm not sure if any grouse species (is the ptarmigan a grouse?) have the feathered legs...
I could be wrong, and no doubt I'll hear about it.
Last comment: nice shot! The background right above the bird's head is bit on the bright side, but hey....

-- Alan Davenport (w7apd@home.com), May 28, 2001.

Very good use of limited depth of field to isolate the subject, but the blue in the background still looks a little unnatural. The twig coming out of the middle of the bird's back is a distraction.

Still, I wish I could get my human portait subjects to pose as well as this bird has done.

-- Graeme Hird (goldeneyephoto@hotmail.com), May 31, 2001.

I believe this is a white-tailed ptramigan, although his (her?) tail doesn't exactly look white, does it? Nice shot. The out of focus light-colored vertical features in the background are somewhat distracting, but otherwise very good!

-- Kirk Nelson (nelsonkk@gte.net), June 05, 2001.