Sandpiper

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm +1.4 ex.
1/1000 sec. at f/ 7.1
ISO 250
Tripod low to ground
Sandy Hook early this morning

[Randy Stout]

Denise:

A beautifully crafted image. The combination of the bird and shell is special, almost perfect color match, nice flow. Perfect HA for the preening pose

The several light tan blobs in the background, not sure if they are specular reflections or what? Might tone them down a bit more, but its lovely as is.

Randy

[Brian Sartor]

Very nice image! I love how the shell balances the composition! Nice light and nice low angle.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Just wonderfull, great pose, light, detail, exposure, low angle and BG.
Big conratulaitons!

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Denise, I like this very much. The preening pose is pleasing. The composition with the shell is also nice. Your selection of f/stops yielded a good depth of focus that show off the bird nicely. I agree with Randy that if might be worth the effort to tone down the brown blobs. Once again I enjoyed this image. That much for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice HA, preening pose, sharpness, COMP, EXP, and shell. This is a killer ID quiz. I believe that it is a worn juvenile Western Sandpiper based on the rufous-based scapulars and the height of the base of the bill. If you have an image of this bird with its bill showing, please post it. Thanks.

Where was it taken?

[Aidan Briggs]

I love the shell, the preening pose, and the warm light. Does it need a bit of rotation?

[denise ippolito]

Nice HA, preening pose, sharpness, COMP, EXP, and shell. This is a killer ID quiz. I believe that it is a worn juvenile Western Sandpiper based on the rufous-based scapulars and the height of the base of the bill. If you have an image of this bird with its bill showing, please post it. Thanks.

Where was it taken?


Art, Thankyou very much for your comments.This was taken at Sandy Hook NJ early this morning.
Found one. I didn't do any work to it as it was going to be a delete. :)

[denise ippolito]

Randy,Brian, Ramon,Phil and Aidan-Thankyou all for your comments and I appreciate them.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks a ton Denise. It is a young Western begining to molt into first winter plumage (indicated by the few grey-centered scapulars.

Where in Sandy Hook?

[denise ippolito]

Thanks so much for the ID Art. This was at the North Beach.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and thanks again Denise. Perhaps we could meet there in early October.

[denise ippolito]

Sure Art Sounds good.:)

[Harshad Barve]

amazing pose , lighting ,details ,killer BG and shell in front makes it grand for me
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Can I join you guys too Denise? Lovely soft light, and I like the colours in this. The inclusion of the shell puts this over the top. A well thought out image Denise - well done.

[denise ippolito]

Harshad and Stuart-Thankyou both very much for your comments.

Stuart- Anytime you want to come to Jesrey let me know!!

[Nagesh Mula]

Hi Denise, I liked this picture very much and the placement shell adds a lot to this picture. If it were my picture I would have cropped from the top to make it a rectangular one and remove the blank space above.
Overall a pretty good picture :-).

[denise ippolito]

Thanks so much for commenting. I appreciate the feedback.

[Arthur Morris]

As Dave Brown pointed out in another post, I was totally wrong on this ID. The seeming depth of the base of the bill convinced me as to Western but in retrospect juvie Western would never show the fairly dark smudgy markings on the sides of the breast and the flanks (as seen clearly in Pane #1.) And to screw up twice after looking at the image in Pane #8 is just plain embarrassing.

The bird is of course a juvenile Dunlin molting into first winter plumage.