Thanks everyone for the great comments!
There are quit a few question as to how i took these...........................
My gear is a canon 40D and 300 f/4L IS lens + 1.4x TC (420mm) + Monopod
Lighting is natural sunlight, somewhere between 9:30 and 11:00 AM. The light is a cross light coming from right side and forward (quartering in from the front and right)
Background is a row of pine trees about 10 yards behind the birds. Background is NOT in the light.
I am shooting over a feeder from about 8 to 10 feet with a 420mm lens on a monopod. Shots are timed so i can crop out the feeder. If you cut the little landing rings off the feeder, they will feed with an in and out motion allowing you to take the shot when they are away from the feeder far enough to crop it out of the picture.
I hang the feeder off a wire so the subject is just slightly below line of sight.
I'm shooting Aperture Priority mode---spot metering---aperture somewhere between f/8 and f/13 depending on the light and shutter speed (because of being so close you really need about f/11 or more)---ISO is between 800 and 1250---histograms are checked and exposure comp. set accordingly--- In the camera menue, focus search is turned off. This allows you to get the focus close manually and then the auto focus will take over for a very short range. This will allow you to focus much quicker (and you'll need it on these fast little guy's)--- IS is turned on and i'm shooting off a monopod .
I'm shooting in direct sunlight. The subject is in the light and the background isn't. When you expose for the subject, the background goes darker.(almost black)
Editing is done with a combination of DXO, lightroom, and PS