Semipalmated plover chick

[D. Robert Franz]

From last summers bear tour. Took a break from bear when we found these little guys running around on the beach. I shot this handheld lying on the sand.

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Shutter speed: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: 4
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1/3
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 250
Focal length: 500mm

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

What a beautiful shot. Terrific composition with all that space. Works well for the 'little guy in the big world' concept. Loved the low angle, HA, sharpness and soft light. Well done.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful low shooting angle, great detail of this little fuzzball; nice color palette and lighting. A fine image.

[Don Lacy]

Wonderful image beautiful colors and all the OOF elements give the image a dreamy effect.

[Morkel Erasmus]

super cute, love the soft light and low angle.
I know your stance on cropping, so won't recommend going tighter :w3 that being said I quite like the space in this one, accentuates the vulnerability of the chick

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

shows your skill and creative thinking - excellent

[denise ippolito]

Dale, I never saw one of these little ones. TFS . Great background colors and low shooting angle. Nice sharpness and I like that it still looks soft and fluffy!:S3:

[Jim Fenton]

This is just special along with a great image creation...and since I will likely never get to go visit where these birds breed, I thank you for sharing such an exquisite image!

[Patrick Sparkman]

Terrific shot. I like the low angle, soft OOF areas, sharp head, and good head angle. Normally side, or back lighting is bad, but it helps accentuate the fluffy down.

[Arthur Morris]

As above :). Was this in Katmai? What was the date?

[D. Robert Franz]

As above :). Was this in Katmai? What was the date?

Hey Artie,

This was taken on July 4th at Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark..

Best

D. Bob

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. I think that that is pretty south for that species. A single pair once nested on Cape Cod years ago, on Monomoy I think. That was amazing. With 500 alone you did a great job of getting close. Those little buggers usually run away fast.

Was David surprised or are they regular breeders at SSCr?

[D. Robert Franz]

Thanks. I think that that is pretty south for that species. With 500 alone you did a great job of getting close. Those little buggers usually run away fast.

Was David surprised or are they regular breeders at SSCr?

Artie,

To be honest I really didn't know what species it was.. I got a couple of images of the adults and when I got home I keyed out the ID. My reference book shows the area as breeding range for the species.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Dale. This is an excellent photo for all the reasons noted above. It's just not a semi-palmated plover. :S3: The body shape and markings are not right for a plover. Here is a link to a (not very good) photo of a semi-palmated plover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin_corcoran/5361111276/

I think what you have here is a very young Arctic Tern chick (before they show the light belly and the pointy beak). :S3: This, of course, takes nothing away from your image which is very well done.

[D. Robert Franz]

Hi Dale. This is an excellent photo for all the reasons noted above. It's just not a semi-palmated plover. :S3: The body shape and markings are not right for a plover. Here is a link to a (not very good) photo of a semi-palmated plover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin_corcoran/5361111276/

I think what you have here is a very young Arctic Tern chick (before they show the light belly and the pointy beak). :S3: This, of course, takes nothing away from your image which is very well done.

You may very well be correct... My book didn't show what the chicks looked like but I do know I was photographing Semipalmated plovers at the same time. Come to think of it there were terns nesting nearby as well. Funny though a few days later I was photographing A. Tern with chicks near Anchorage and they could allready fly???

[Arthur Morris]

My gut says that this is not a tern chick.... Legs way too long. I think :).

[Steve Maxson]

You may very well be correct... My book didn't show what the chicks looked like but I do know I was photographing Semipalmated plovers at the same time. Come to think of it there were terns nesting nearby as well. Funny though a few days later I was photographing A. Tern with chicks near Anchorage and they could allready fly???
Maybe these chicks were from a late renesting effort? - which could explain the large age difference between them and the other tern chicks you saw. Here is a link showing photos of Arctic terns - some of the images show young chicks which look quite similar to the chick in your photo. http://www.go2moon.com/ArcticTern.html

I have no doubt that you were photographing semipalmated plover adults at this site and I'm not questioning that at all. :S3: I didn't have much luck finding good photos of their chicks via google, but there are lots of images of piping plover chicks - their body shape (long legs, large head, etc.) would be very similar to that of a semipalmated plover chick. :S3:

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the link to the Arctic Tern chick images. For me they make me 100% positive that the bird in D-Bob's photo is not an Arctic Tern :).

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the link to the Arctic Tern chick images. For me they make me 100% positive that the bird in D-Bob's photo is not an Arctic Tern :).

OK. So what then? The legs seem way too short for a plover chick - and the markings look very tern-like. :S3: