Black tailed godwit

[Jonathan Ashton]

Handheld Canon 1DX Canon 500mm f4 L IS &1.4TC ISO 10000 1/2000 sec f5.6
After one of the highest tides on the River Dee we had quite a few casualties, this water logged black tailed godwit almost certainly drowned. It struggled to get some purchase on the grasses but it was very weak. I returned to the scene 5 minutes later and it was nowhere to be seen.
I did make a version where I cleaned up around the bill but the water ripples and patterns were very difficult to match and in any event I think a scene like this is probably best presented as it was, after all it was not clean and tidy.
All C&C welcome

[gail bisson]

Very interesting and moving natural history story.
I am not quite sure I understand why he drowned? Was he stuck or frozen in the ground?
The gloomy light emphasize the story line.
The only PP I would do would be to clone out the big reed that intersects with the beak. Did you try the spot healing brush followed by the clone tool with feathered edges? TFS
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Gail, I didn't use the spot heal but I did try patching and cloning, one of the problems was I started with the reed you mentioned, then there is another one just a little further up the bill and there's another toward the tip, the temptation is to make the bill clean but I think it would be a nightmare to do a decent job. On reflection it may have been better to create a mask, then invert and then copy some of the finer floating debris from the RHS.
I thought it had drowned because the tide was still rising and it was becoming increasingly weary, it could possibly have been injured.

[Grace Scalzo]

Certainly not a classically beautiful image, but one that tells the story of the daily struggle of our avian subjects. Thanks for sharing it.