White-rumped Sandpiper

I thought it was a Least Sandpiper, I hope this is the correct Id. I even looked at the Cornell site. Small birds can be so hard to Id. Shot in Nd. These can be so difficult to shoot have to get so close and low in the mud shot from a floating blind. I actually got stuck in the mud a few weeks back in a slough and had to leave my blind and camera equipment. I was in so deep my chest waders were pulling off. At one point I thought about rolling out. LOL it was so exhausting and difficult. Had to crawl out on my hands and knees. Had the girlfriend and son bring me some plywood so I could retrieve my equipment. Always on a dirty mud flat or other birds intersecting. I was very happy with this one in clean water. Especially with the water as the bird had just lifted his head.
Cleaned up some spots and added canvas to the left side. The cloning repair looked better before the crop. Took out some specular highlights in the water and bill. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop,Topaz.Comments and critiques appreciated.
Canon 1DX 111
500 f/4 L Is 11
700 mm
Av 7.1
1/1600
ISO 800

WRSA for sure; overall gray, long wings, and orange base to beak. Should have black legs.

LESA would be browner with thinner, all dark beak. Legs would also be olive-yellow.

Beautiful image regardless! Splash and low angle are a strong combo!

Love the low angle, the water droplets on the head are awesome and of course love the movement in the water. Nicely done!

A very sweet frame. What was the date? I was looking for one today at Fort DeSoto ... I have had northbound breeding plumage adults there in early June.

I am betting that this needs a bit of CW rotation. Use the Ruler Tool to draw a line from the center of the bird's eye to the center of the eye in the reflection and then go Image > Rotate > Arbitrary. Or LMNK if you need help. I lov the sheet of water below the bill. It looks like some motion blur about the face. Lastly, I'd wish that the head were turned a bit more toward us.

Great story. I once got stuck in the muck at Brignantine NWR. A guy named Tony Leukering, now in CO, came out to rescue me. And after He did that, he had to go back out to find my wallet!

with love, artie

Great image, love the water movement and colors, water drops a bonus

Thanks Artie taken 6/2 2021.

Hi Kevin ... the sweet light and overall nice color palette are looking very good .
But the water is the icing on the cake , top notch .

Can see a pano version as a possible alternative from the composition POV .

TFS Andreas

The film of water trailing off the bill is the highlight of this frame. I also love the water beads on top of the head. I'm also betting it needs a touch of CW rotation. Did you work on the eye a bit?

Kevin, you have had a few frames with this golden water and it just doesn't get old.

Sweet details in the plumage and the water wall takes this one home for me. Also love the blue in the wake and on the head droplets!

Image rotation is tough here. If I scroll the image down to the bottom of my monitor I feel like the center line of the wake on the right hits the monitor line first, indicating it would need CCW rotation to me. But to the naked eye, it seems the opposite. Thus, I'd leave it alone :-)

Only minor nit is that the cloning caused the wake lines on the left to cease abruptly. You could try a cloning brush fading in opacity to try and paint in some of the wake lines that are still showing. Otherwise, a joy to view.

Beautiful image. I like the it.

Agree with rotation. I would slightly reduce the brightness in the mid tones.

TFS

Beauty Kevin...so pleasing to the eye...

Will

I love the water film between the bill and the water sweet light too for me it's pretty much perfect as is

TFS