Sanderling, juvenile wing-stretch.

[Melvin Grey]

Having seen some superb wader/shorebird images recently I thought I would send one from the UK - not that I mean this is a superb image, I will leave any judgement to the BPN members! This was taken on an offshore island on the West Coast of Scotland as the birds are making their way south from their Scandinavian breeding grounds. The image was taken with tripod as low as possible while lying beside some rock to break up my outline. I am sorry to say that most birds are far more wary in the UK, hence the use of the 500mm lens and TC2.

Camera !D Mk1V, lens 500mm f4 IS plus TC2. Exp. 1/2000 @ f11 ISO 800 Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK. The 'blue' sand is due to the reflection of a blue sky in the surface water.

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely image. Sharp, good detail, well exposed, nice pose and eye contact, good low angle. Looks a bit too blue to me - here is a repost to adress that.

[arash_hazeghi]

awesome pose details and sharpness. I like Ofer's repost! excellent work

[Sanjeevprakash]

Beautiful Shot,Melvin.The details are visible very well ,excellent clarity and Sharp.Not to forget the beach which is very clean.Ofer's repost has added the missing punch.Nice work

[gail bisson]

Very nice Melvin.
I just wish for a bit more head turn towards the viewer.
I would also touch up the double catchlight in the eye.
Gail

[christopher galeski]

nice one Melvin,sharp esp using a TC2,like the pose,good light for the UK:bg3:well done.

[Melvin Grey]

Very nice Melvin.
I just wish for a bit more head turn towards the viewer.
I would also touch up the double catchlight in the eye.
Gail

Thanks for your comments Gail - with regard to the double catchlight, had it been caused by a fill-in flash I would have definitely removed it, but here it is the natural effect of both the reflection of the sun and the reflection of the sun's reflection from the surface of the wet sand in front of the bird. This often happens with birds on or standing in water - so it is a perfectly natural situation and, therefore should we clone it out or not?
On another totally unrelated note - at times it is impossible to get a catchlight in a bird eye because of the angle of the birds head or just lack of sun. In that case I am personally totally against putting in a false one.
Once again, thanks for your comments,
Melvin

[Melvin Grey]

nice one Melvin,sharp esp using a TC2,like the pose,good light for the UK:bg3:well done.

Thanks Chris - only one of five with really good light!!!!! Oh, how we suffer.

[Melvin Grey]

Lovely image. Sharp, good detail, well exposed, nice pose and eye contact, good low angle. Looks a bit too blue to me - here is a repost to adress that.

Thanks Ofer for your remarks and the excellent re-post - now I will go back to the 'drawing board' and try to match it.
Melvin

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous image. I like the repost by Ofer.Agree with Gail about catch light.
Love the pose with stretched wing,very nice details and blue reflection of the sky.

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Magnificent details on the stretched wing!! Shorebird wingstretches are among my favorite poses to photograph, so I appreciate this image in many ways :-) Nice clean beach. Ofer's repost looks good, but I dig your OP too.

[Arthur Morris]

While I like Ofer's repost, it seems that he made it a bit darker more than anything else. There did not seem to be any BLUE in the WHITEs in the original post. BTW, even though it could have used a bit more head turn towards us this is a superb image.

Any beach cleanup?

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Wonderful stretching pose, exposed very well, and great shooting angle.
Well done.

[Melvin Grey]

While I like Ofer's repost, it seems that he made it a bit darker more than anything else. There did not seem to be any BLUE in the WHITEs in the original post. BTW, even though it could have used a bit more head turn towards us this is a superb image.

Any beach cleanup?

Thank you very much for your comment, very much appreciated. No, there was no beach clean up - the beach had been swept clean by the tide, here the tide is receding leaving it pristine for an hour or two and, on a small island like North Uist, there is not much public pressure at that time of year.

[Arthur Morris]

Yikes. Melvin, what makes you think that this bird is a juvenile? It is not. What month?

[Melvin Grey]

Yikes. Melvin, what makes you think that this bird is a juvenile? It is not. What month?

Artie, The Sanderling was taken on the 26th of September 2011. These birds breed in Greenland and N Scandinavia and head down south to their wintering grounds, passing along the West Coast of Scotland. I assumed it was a juvenile moulting to 1st Winter Plumage from the darker markings. The adult winter plumage is surely much less variegated. I have photographed them heading North in summer plumage along the same beach in late May. This is a very interesting subject which I would like to discuss further with you - what is the best way I can do this? I do have a copy of 'Shorebirds'.

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

beautiful pose

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, The Sanderling was taken on the 26th of September 2011. These birds breed in Greenland and N Scandinavia and head down south to their wintering grounds, passing along the West Coast of Scotland. I assumed it was a juvenile moulting to 1st Winter Plumage from the darker markings. The adult winter plumage is surely much less variegated. I have photographed them heading North in summer plumage along the same beach in late May. This is a very interesting subject which I would like to discuss further with you - what is the best way I can do this? I do have a copy of 'Shorebirds'.

Hi Melvin,

We all get in trouble when we assume. :) You infer that the plumage of the bird in the image is "variegated." You are correct. Having a copy of my Shorebird book is a good start and your purchase is greatly appreciated, but you actually need to study and consult it. Though I do not have a copy with me here at my Mom's on Long Island I am sure that it describes worn, molting adults as having variegated plumage. Just like the bird here has. A juvenile molting to first winter will show a clean grey saddle of feathers on the upper back....

When I went to respond to your comment I took a closer look at the photo and wanted to make sure that my first impression was correct so I e-mail Richard Crossley. His terse reply: "Ad." :S3: Your bird is indeed a worn, molting adult.

The image here shows a bird in fresh juvenal plumage, about AUG 20 on Long Island, NY.