American Oystercatcher

[Bill Dix]

No matter how many times I see these guys, I marvel at their outstanding bill and eyes. Another split-second and he might have been in a full down-wing position; and next time I'll try to get him against the dune grasses instead of blue sky. But I haven't had much luck catching them in flight so thought I'd post this while waiting for a better one.

D7000, 500f4, ISO 800, 1/1600s @ f/7.1 manual, Gitzo and Mongoose

[Arthur Morris]

Though the full downstroke would have been a bit better this is a nice capture but for too much of something on the BLACKs especially of the head which looks mega-over-lightened and thus noisy. Looks sharp. Where?

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Can you pull any detail from the left wing (medium/greater coverts - I believe)? Otherwise, nice composition and clean image. The wing tips looks a tad bit noisy, but nothing to fuss about.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you both. Artie, this was taken at the end of the Fisherman's Trail at Sandy Hook last Thursday morning. I did notice some noise, particularly in the wings. To my eye, the appearance of the head is from the angled sun hitting the bird's natural texture, although there may also be a bit of noise. It is not the result of any over-lightening. In fact, the image was exposed just slightly too far to the right, thus losing some detail in the wing coverts as Miguel noted. I corrected the exposure just slightly downward in Capture NX2.

[Alan Murphy]

Nice comp and open bill.

[Josh Clark]

Great flight shot of a favorite bird of mine.

[Satish Ranadive]

Very very sweet image.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[Maya Raut]

Great shotBill. I would also like to have flight shot of OC in my profile.

- Maya

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with you about a full wing downstroke, but still a fine image. I like the slightly open bill giving a semblence of a smile.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

[Shawn Zierman]

Pretty dang sharp flight shot of a pretty dang sweet subject.
Very nice.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Shawn.