Canon 7D: Greater Yellowlegs Takes a Bow

[Doug Brown]

Winding down a great Southern California trip! Here's a Yellowlegs taking a bow after quite a performance in the sweet light.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/photos/674759408_JrU2t-O-1.jpg

Canon 7D, 500mm + 1.4x, f/6.3, 1/640, ISO 400, hand held

[Brian Barcelos]

Beautiful detail in the feathers and love the body posture and water falling off the beak. BG is lovely and the eye looks great Doug. I'd prefer less room underneath and more top and left. Glad your enjoying your new toy. Congrats

Brian

[Harshad Barve]

Awesome pose , expo , details BG & water falling off the beak
TFS

[James Salywoda]

Excellent sweeping pose Doug the details are perfect it sure was nice having such nice light the whole evening.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Lovely timing Doug, nice angle and light here, loved the Bg too, Felt the bird was a bit soft though, still loved it congrats..

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, lovely angled pose, and well timed to capture the scoop of water. I like the light and detail, and good job on the eye. I would maybe take a bit off the bottom. The top works fine as is.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the intimate view of the drinking behaviour. Nice colours too. I'm sure the original file is tack sharp, but as posted it seems the face could use a bit more sharpening - and it sure feels like the image needs a tiny bit of CCW rotation? The longish slightly upturned bill makes me think this could be a "Greater"...

[borisbelchev_bspb]

Everything is perfect - BG, pose, colors, low level, eye contact...Just one thing - the bird is Greater Yellowlegs, to prove it put one of my photos of Lesser Yellowlegs...check out the bill ;-)
http://www.wildlifephotos.eu/subcat.php?SubSubCat=567&pageNum_Details_One=11&totalRows_Details_One=14

[DeanNewman]

Doug,
Not a bird ID forum but what you have here is a GREATER Yellowlegs. Great image.

[Jim Fenton]

Doug...

I enjoy the pose, colors / saturation and low angle.

It does look as though it needs further sharpening refinement on my end.

Is the blue area in the upper left corner OOF blue water?

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the ID help everyone. With regard to sharpening, I've been processing images on my laptop while in California, and that might be what's going on. I'll have a look on my desktop system when I get home tonight.

[Arthur Morris]

Lessers always have dead straight needle-like bills so this is a greater. I agree with Dan on the need for a bit of sharpening on the face and a bit of CCW rotation. Love the intimate view of the drinking behvior and the nice green BKGR. EXP perfect.

[John Blumenkamp]

Hey Doug... fantastic, up close image for sure. Your timing is awesome with the water trail from the beak, that light is great. Hope to see more and how your 7D is performing for you. ;-)

[Arthur Morris]

I forgot to mention, can anyone age this bird? (In other words, what plumage are we looking at?)

[Morkel Erasmus]

agree on some sharpening needed Doug. lovely shot, like the water dripping from the beak and the exposure.
Artie - I don't know these birds so wouldn't be able to have a go at guessing the age :)

[Doug Brown]

Hi Jim. That's the blue of the sky reflected in the water. I didn't notice it on my laptop. Here's a repost with the blue removed (I was trying for an all green BG) and some additional sharpening.

[Arthur Morris]

Two final notes:

1-the bill of this young bird is likely not fully grown yet.
2: The lighter gray saddle of feathers on the back and including the scapulars contrast markedly with the darker worn juvenal feathers of the coverts. This indicates that the bird is nearing the completion of its molt to first winter plumage.

Good job on the sharpening. The feather still look a tab sharper than the face leaving me to guess that AI Servo AF on the bird itself was used.....