Avian Image of the Week for the week ending Aug. 30th, 2013: Melissa Groo - American Avocet on Saline Flat
Congratulations Melissa!
Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4x
Skimmer Pod
ISO 1000
f/5.6
1/800 sec
I took this in late May while lying flat on an alkaline flat at the edge of Bowdoin Lake in NE Montana. It was a cloudy day and I had been discouraged while trying to photograph the avocets in the water, as there just wasn't sufficient light. I decided to pack it in and drive back to my motel, but while I was leaving the refuge, I noticed a couple of avocets on an alkaline flat, and I figured that the brightness of the substrate might act to bounce light back up, and be a giant softbox. I pulled over, and crept up on a pair, and got a series of photos that may be my favorite of the trip; I was able to witness and photograph the pair building a nest. This shows one of them just posing nicely. I loved how the colors of the background complemented the colors of the avocet in breeding plumage. P.S. I had never known before that their legs and area around eye turn blue.
Some crop, NR, and sharpening.
Thank you so much for any comments and critiques.
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