New Zealand Dotterel

[gail bisson]

Taken in NZ last month. These are lovely shorebirds and their bill is very similar to Wilson's plovers here in North America.I wonder if they are related?
Canon 1DX
600mm and 1.4x
ISO 400 SS 1/2000 F 8.0
PP: Crop to 70% FF, LR5 and USM to JPEG.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Sweet bird and one that I would love to see one day. Details look very nice and you have a perfect head angle. I like the shells on the beach as well. Usually I like a clean beach but this works perfectly. I don't think the background is helping you here. That offset part in the back distracts from the subject I think. I wish it was more of that beautiful muted green and less of the white with dark grass. Wilson's Plover is in the same genus. Amazing how many species are like this. Occupy the same habitat half a world apart and look very similar as well.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the bird and the head angle. A few inches higher and a few inches righter would have eliminated some of the BKGR problems as the bird would have been framed by the dark stuff ...

with love, artie

ps: I just realized why you did not want to move to the right at all ...

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, HA, IQ, composition and how the beach and shells compliment the bird perfectly. I agree that the white behind the bird isn't ideal. Very well done Gail!

[Glenn Pure]

I love the setting here, Gail, with the shelly beach in the foreground and OOF vegetation behind. The light looks to be quite strong here based on a shadow being present but I wouldn't be able to tell otherwise as you've got great tone an colour even on the underside of the bird. I like the composition too. One thing you didn't mention is that this species is listed as Threatened and National Vulnerable although recovering luckily. I had hoped to see these when in NZ myself earlier in the year but no luck.