American Oystercatcher Chick Resting

[Marina Scarr]

Did the military crawl to get in close to this scene which I managed to do without scaring the adults and chicks. The light was a bit high but what a great vantage point I had to witness their behavior for about an hour until my body had had enough abuse. One of the adults was actually only inches away from this 3-1/2 week old chick.

Canon 40D, Canon 400DO & 1.4 TC @ 560mm
F8, 1/2000sec, ISO 400, manual mode
Hand held on my belly in the sand (and I was sore for a while afterwards)

C & C welcomed and appreciated.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Marina, getting down and sore :w3 has paid off here. I like the pose, and detail of the wing, and the hint of orange of the bill stands out nicely. If this were mine, I would probably take about a third off the top. Hope you have recovered. :w3

[arash_hazeghi]

very cute Marina, love the pose, there is a bit too much empty space on the top for me, would go 3 : 2.

I would personally take advantage of 1024 pixel posting size on this site, it makes a huge difference in the fine details.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Very nice, Marina. Good HA with catchlight. agree with Arash on crop.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Marina ,

Nice pose with very sharp bird and a lot of defenition. Will do well in a larger format as suggested. Like the composition with the greenery. I might consider toning down the brightness in the foreground.

[allanrube]

I agree with what others have said. A lovely chick and a great pose. Perhaps lightening the chick a bit would make it stand out even more?

Was this taken recently in the Tampa area?

[Marina Scarr]

Thanks guys on the help with the crop and maybe even on lightening the bird. For some reason, it looks darker on this site.

Allan, I will shoot you a PM.

[Jim Fenton]

Love the image....colors are great, sand texture and the plant material that these birds like to cozy up to are all wonderful.

Personally, while I like pano crops, I like this one just as presented as it really shows the environment.

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous colors and composition Marina the low angle and details are excellent well done.

[Herb Houghton]

I like the low angle and tucked in beak with orange showing. Nice and sharp, I agree about cropping the top some. TFS