Gorgeous colors, nice shooting angle and great eye contact, Ned.
I'd crop from the bottom quite a bit and would clone out the distracting black spots.
Btw, I think this is a Dowitcher (can't say whether it's a short billed or a long billed. Where and when was this photographed?)
I suck at shorebird ID :-) Fremont CA, yesterday. I actually like the rocks although there is a what looks to be a period (tiny black speck) that I can get rid of. :-)
Telling the two apart is apparently notoriously difficult, and I'm no expert.
My best guess is that this is a long billed.
There are some interesting notes here
The might be an easy question for the folks at the Avian-About-Birds forum
Love the fiery BG! Good exposure and details. I too would likely get rid the rocks if mine, but it is your image and if you like them then that is good enough for me. Given that the subject is relatively small I think the dowitcher would look good with a bit more canvas cropped away left and bottom.
Wonderful colours Ned. Comp looks good except maybe a bit off bottom for me. I don't really like the black objects because I can't determine what they are by looking at them. I think this would be an incredible smooth serene image without them.