Quite A Plump Little Brant.

I usually only get the chance to photograph this species during fall migration as they often stage here to fatten-up for the next leg of migration. In the spring they are almost always only seen in big flocks simply flying high overhead so I was pleasantly surprised to see a small group of four swimming close to shore a couple of weeks ago. After spending a few moments on the choppy waters of the river, they came onto shore to preen. Here is one of them showing off its roundness.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, FF. The bottom right was rather bluish, so I toned that down (but in hindsight I could try to match it even more to the rest of the colour-scheme of the image).

Daniel quite nice, wish for a little more Ha. The choppy waters make this. The color that blue doesn't bother me maybe helps the image adds some contrast leads itself so softly into the image. TFS

Daniel:

They always look like their head is too small for the body! I like the "standing" on the turbulent water pose, well exposed. The blue in corner didn't distract me. As Kevin said, it so soft that it blends in.

Cheers

Randy

I like it, especially the waves. Were you seated or flat? It looks a bit too YELLOW to me -- you might try a cooler version.

with love, artie

Nice crisp look at this guy, and I appreciate the low angle. I agree with Artie about the yellow cast, but WB is not my strong suit! Composition works well for me.

The waves are nice. Pose and framing are dead on.

Thanks all. Artie, I was lying flat for this image.