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DRwyoming said:
That's exactly the approach I would have taken several years ago and was my go-to for bird portraits in low light. It would have really been a key flash situation more than fill flash as dark as it was. There are downsides to the flash approach besides the extra gear like a flash bracket to get the flash off camera and a Better Beamer to increase flash effective flash power allowing for shorter flash durations and quicker recycle times. For starters unless you run in a high speed synch mode the shutter speed is limited to around 1/250" when shooting flash and the other big one is the background would go jet black if I'd relied completely on flash or worse there would be harsh flash induced shadows from any branches and leaves in the path of the flash's light.

I'm still amazed at what modern sensors coupled with modern post processing can allow in terms of high ISO performance. I never would even have tried this shot hand held with my D2X, D200 or D1H much less film cameras. Actually I probably wouldn't have tried this till I switched to Manual Exposure/Auto ISO mode as if I had to manually dial in ISO 10,000 I probably wouldn't even have tried for the shot :)

I'll also say Topaz Denoise is pretty amazing in what it can do though it takes a fair amount of processing power and time to pull it off. FWIW, here's the image out of the D5 prior to running it through Topaz Denoise:
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Definitely more noise but with a pretty reasonable film grain sort of texture straight out of camera.
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Thank you for your explanation!
 
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Baltimore oriole looking for insects in willow catkins
D500 + 500PF f/5.6 @ 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 100

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Cristobal said:
Thank you for your explanation!
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I was looking back through some older flash photos trying to find one similar to the high ISO shot above and remembered one more reason that flash can be troublesome for wild birds. In addition to harsh shadows cast by foreground twigs and leaves, those items closer to the camera and flash can also reflect a lot more light than the main subject or objects behind the main subject especially when working distances are short.

IOW, in that image above there are a few out of focus foreground leaves. Some are already a bit bright which isn't ideal but add flash to the mix and those leaves closer than the main subject have a tendency to reflect a lot more light and show up as blown out highlights.

Bottom line, flash can work but it works best either as a subtle fill in bright lighting conditions to fill shadows on an otherwise bright image or can work as a key flash on images where the path to the subject is pretty clear and there's not a lot of branches, twigs or leaves to either cast hard flash shadows or especially some closer to the camera/flash that will reflect bright highlights. IOW, key flash seems to work best for very clean scenes.
 
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Thank you for your comments; I agree with you; whenever possible I don't use flash and it's certainly more efficient for clean scenes; but, as I am a novice in post processing, I try to do the best with my camera settings and use flash occasionaly; here, in Quebec, Canada, we are lacking sometimes good light, more precisely when we want to take pictures in woodlands unless having a camera able to withstand very high ISO; it's for that reason that the best time is early spring when warblers migrate north, end of autumn and winter; even now, I am waiting for less leaves in deciduous trees before taking more photos (warblers have already left many parts of my area, same for the hummingbirds).
 
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I came across these Horned Larks by the side of a dirt road early one morning as I was out scouting Sage Grouse leks. There a couple of dozen of these guys hopping around the brush and hanging out by the roadside.

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Here are 3 from my backyard this weekend...
I think this is a female Lesser Goldfinch.
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Not sure about this one, Eastern Phoebe ?
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...and from today, a Carolina Wren
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It was nice out so I set my blind out by the sagebrush this morning, where the feeders are located and got a few shots of these White-crowned Sparrows.
I never used my popup blind in the backyard until I read about it here now it is another fun thing to do sometimes. :cool:
D850, 200-500mm on a gimbal head.

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Hut said:
It was nice out so I set my blind out by the sagebrush this morning, where the feeders are located and got a few shots of these White-crowned Sparrows.
I never used my popup blind in the backyard until I read about it here now it is another fun thing to do sometimes. :cool:
D850, 200-500mm on a gimbal head.

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Nice work Hut!! Very nice capture!!
 
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@Ralph Bruno thanks!
Keen to get more shots of Pardalotes, there are two more types around here, the Forty Spotted and the Striated.
I have never seen the Forty Spotted so that is a bucket list bird, endemic and are fairly rare.
I do have some shots of the Striated from last year but they are not too good.

Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) 80 - 100mm
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soundbyte said:
@Ralph Bruno thanks!
Keen to get more shots of Pardalotes, there are two more types around here, the Forty Spotted and the Striated.
I have never seen the Forty Spotted so that is a bucket list bird, endemic and are fairly rare.
I do have some shots of the Striated from last year but they are not too good.

Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) 80 - 100mm
View attachment 5454
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I have a very good friend who lives in Sanford Tasmania. Moved from the states more than 35 years a ago. He is an excellent photographer as well. Specializes in macro photography.
 
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Have been camping in Idaho this past week, didn't do a ton of photography but did keep a camera handy. Was enjoying a morning cup of coffee when this Mountain Chickadee started picking away to get the pine nuts in a bunch of pinecones lying around camp.

Nikon D850, 500mm PF @f/5.6, 1/400", ISO 1100
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