Long-toed Lapwing

[Chris van Rooyen]

The Long-toed Lapwing is a resident of permanent marshes with floating vegetation. It is very rare in South Africa, but relatively common in the Okavango Swamps in Botswana. The long toes is an adaptation to walk on floating vegetation. I captured this image from a boat during a photo-safari last year to the Swamps. I used my Manfrotto 055 CL tripod with my trusty 501 fluid head.

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Date/Time: 2007:11:18 16:21:38
Shutter speed: 1/1250 sec
Aperture: 9
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 500
Focal length: 700mm

[Jason Searle]

nice clean sharp image, i wonder if this is a relation of the pied stilts we have here in New Zealand, it looks similar.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

nice clean sharp image, i wonder if this is a relation of the pied stilts we have here in New Zealand, it looks similar.

Yes, it is within the order of Charadriiformes :) but completely different genus, the Charadriidae. This actually a lapwing than a stilt.
By the way Chris, this is very nice. Please book it for my shorebird book :D

I see a little halo around the head.

Szimi

[Ramon M. Casares]

Just superb, as usual, the pose is powerful, the light is great, sharpness ca'n't be better and exposure.. uf.. terrific! Congratulations!

[Mike Lentz]

Nice capture, Chris! I like it with the wings wide open and the BG makes the bird pop.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great capture, Chris - wing pose is really nice. BG very painterly. Blurred wingtips have me puzzled - is that motion blur at 1/1250, a DOF issue or is is from something in post? - looks fine but I'm trying to understand it's origin.

[Tony Whitehead]

nice clean sharp image, i wonder if this is a relation of the pied stilts we have here in New Zealand, it looks similar.
Jason - these are probably closer to the NZ Masked Lapwing (Spur-winged Plover) than Pied Stilt despite the colour matching the stilts better

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very cool capture. I like the wing position, light and BG. The bird looks a bit oversharpened on my monitor and there is some noise around the bird's legs and underneath the body.