Avian Image of the Week for the week ending July 13th, 2012: Melissa Groo - Piping Plover Stand-Off

[Daniel Cadieux]

Congratulations Melissa!!!

Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4x
Skimmer pod

ISO 500
1/800
f/9

Taken during Mike Milicia's wonderful plover/tern workshop in MA last month. There was a small group of adult piping plovers near the water, and some sort of fracas seemed to be underway. These two faced off for a bit. I got a few pics of some more exciting action but alas the sharpness was not there. I liked this as they were both pretty sharp, and I really like how the two outer raised feathers on the crouched plover look like horns. I think the askew feathers on the chest were from previous bouts between these two a few moments before.
Shot on Manual, out of my comfort zone! I learned a lot over the weekend, thanks to Mike's excellent instruction.
Light was starting to get harsh, but I thought this one was salvageable, did some whites recovery and tried to even out tones a bit. This is about a 35% crop.
All critiques and comments greatly appreciated; thank you for looking.

[Grace Scalzo]

Congrats...this is such a fine photograph!

[fabiobernardino]

Beautiful moment. Crop is right. Great contrast of the oranges with the blue background.

[gail bisson]

Well done Melissa!
gail

[gareth thomson]

Makes me smile. Beautifully done. (gt)

[Satish Ranadive]

Heartiest Congratulations....Gorgeous image.
Regards,
Satish.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely stuff Mellisa!

[arash_hazeghi]

super Melissa! congrats and well deserved!

[Marina Scarr]

Huge congrats, GF. What a great action/behavior capture!!!

[jack williamson]

This one made me smile, the bird on the left does not look too put off. Excellent and congratulations.

Jack

[Doug Brown]

Awesome frame Melissa! Congratulations on IOTW!

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you very much for the honor of IOTW and for all the congrats and support. I really appreciate it.

[Josh Clark]

Congrats Melissa! Sorry a little late on this one.