Semipalmated Plover With Insect Catch.

Always a bonus when getting a shorebird with prey in their bills as most of the time those are swallowed instantly. Fortunately, this little plover struggled with its catch for a few minutes before finally getting it down-the-hatch. For those preferring a messier beach, sorry, this was as shot on a clean part of it with nothing removed in post:t3.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, darkened the pupil, and some kind of odd piece of debris stuck on a leg removed.

Daniel, lol RE beach.

Agree, a huge bonus here. A bug, of all things... is that normal for semipalms?

Wonderful detail and you nailed the low pov. Really nice connection with eye contact and that ol' 7DII keeps on cranking out solid details!

I'd love just a bit of sat in that sweet green and blue bkg and might take a look at a tiny bit of punch to enhance those gorgeous neutrals. In other words, I think you have some room in setting the black point, and the whites too.

Super sweet man, well done!

hi Danial,

good job as always...

Sweet catch by both the bird and you Daniel! Love the bug in beak, the color palette, details and as always the low POV! Great job

Yeah, this really needs a messy beach. But for that omission it's a great shot. Love the bkg and facial details.

Pretty much perfect for me Dan, great pose along with the added prey item, beautiful low POV and nice eye contact from the bird

Mike

Spot on. Great you caught one with a bug though. Framing/low angle are all on par.

is it a cricket? never seen one with an insect, great low angle and solid exposure

TFS

Thanks guys! It looks like a Giant Waterbug nymph from what I could tell.

I love this. One of my favorite birds with a great beach, perfect background and a meal that I've never seen them prey upon.

Hi Daniel ... lovely frame .
Nice overall color and tonal palette rendered , as most of the times :w3
Cool super low POV and the DOF is right on the point .
Well chosen comp and the food in the beak is a great bonus .

Nicely done and TFS Andreas