This shot was taken not only because it was a mating pair of red-wing blackbirds, but also because of the depth of the scene. The blurred cattail stood in the foreground while the blackbirds stood in the middle ground and there was a wonderful bokeh for the background produced by the cattails in the marsh. The aperture of f/5.6 was convenient not only for keeping the ISO down but also for the narrow depth of field producing the bokeh. Camera settings were, continuous focus and shutter, 1/1000 sec., f/5.6, and 500 mm focal length, ISO 1800. Equipment included Nikon D750, Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 lens, TC-14E III teleconverter, Induro Stealth CLT403 tripod, Wimberly WH-200 gimbal head. I like to keep my lens speed at least at 1/1000 of a second for small birds.