American Oystercatcher preening

[Bill Dix]

From Barnegat Lighthouse SP in 2014. I'm sure some will want to see the bill (it is, after all, this species' signature element); but I rather liked the fact that just the eye was showing here, to make this a little different.

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 800, 1/1250s @ f/7.1 manual.

[William Dickson]

The bird certainly looks different without the bill showing. I like the pose and the detail on the bird, the seaweed perch is nice as well.

Will

[adrian dancy]

Nice detail on the bird's body. Sadly the bird is not in an ideal preening pose and the head looks a tad soft...sorry.

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

Well exposed against the bright back ground. The blacks above the eye could do with a little less contrast to open them up? A very interesting pose nevertheless.

[Daniel Cadieux]

You are correct, I do wish to see at very least part of the base of the bill. I also wish you could have moved a bit more to your right for a more parallel view of the subject. Neat perch, sharp on the body, not so much on the face though. Fun to experiment with different poses, some work better than others

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, well exposed on all those different colours, and great that you got the bright eye. Just enough of the barnacle 'perch', and agree moving to your right would have rendered a better angle. I realise, moving that one extra step to achieve that better angle mostly results in no shot at all.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all. I guess it's back to Barnegat for another try at this fellow.