White-necked Heron

[Glenn Pure]

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While this species mostly works freshwater bodies, it does sometimes visit coastal mudflats. This one photographed at a dam a few minutes walk from home. The bird was feeding on freshwater crustaceans (yabbies) and was doing very well. It's a juvenile as shown by the spotty neck. So I hope this qualifies as a shorebird as I'm not clear if it was for purely saltwater species? This is an uncropped frame.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may wish to share.

Technical: Canon 80D with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/2500 sec, f7.1, ISO 640. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Modest NR applied to bird and stronger to background. Sharpened in PSE (Sharpness tool, remove Gaussian Blur: usually 0.3 to 0.4 pixels at 50-60%) after final size reduction.

[Bill Dix]

Great stalking pose, nicely exposed; and I love the graded background. In my own personal taxonomy I distinguish between shorebirds and wading birds, but this is a lovely image no matter what category you put it in.

[Bob Smith]

I like the way the colour transitions here from foreground water to BG sky(?) with the shadowy hints of structure adding depth beyond the bird. I've never seen this breed of heron before so thanks for the introduction Glenn. Exposure and focus look right on. My only picky might be to move the bird a tad to the right in the frame.

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you Bill and Bob. The background is oof water which is reflecting the earth bank of the dam with foliage above it (hence the green reflections lower in the frame). No frame left to move the bird but I could add canvas as I'd need more on the left to balance this.

Perhaps a moderator can remove the 'Theme' as I take your point Bill: should not be classified as a shorebird. I'm not an expert birder so please forgive me on that one.

[Tim Foltz]

Glenn, Nice looking bird wish we had them here, very clean image, nice details.

-Tim

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Love the intense concentration, and I can sense the slow-motion in the stride, Glenn. Beautiful bird and great tones throughout.

Geoffrey




https://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (https://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[William Dickson]

Very nice Glenn. Never seen this bird before, so thanks for sharing. The bird looks real good with a lovely HA. Love the BG which shows the bird nicely. Great colours throughout.

Will