Theme: Hard to get - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

[Matthew Jones]

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)
South coast, NSW Australia

Nikon D4 | Nikkor 500mm f/4 | 1.4x TC II | Boogie board with Jobu gimbal
1/2000 | f/8 | ISO 640 | 700mm

This species is a southern summer migrant to Australia and breeds in the Arctic during the short Siberian summer. Most of the time it is therefore only possible to capture feeding behaviours however very rarely pairs engage in a game of 'grandma's footsteps' which seems to be a pair forming/strengthening behaviour in anticipation of the coming breeding season. The title signifies the female playing hard to get as well as the image of the behaviour

[Glennie Passier]

Matt, your images just make me want to go out and find a boogie board! The low POV is outstanding. Both birds look great and I really like the feather detail under the suitors wings. The beautiful BG compliments the birds well. "grandma's footsteps" appeals to me very much!

TFS!

[Keith Swindell]

This is a great image Matt - the pose is fantastic and I love the reflections! My only suggestion is that I think I might prefer it with a smidge less contrast.

Keith

[Kirk Benson]

Eye-level POV is fantastic, beautiful light and BG, and the behavior you captured is a terrific moment Matthew. Color is rich, detail is excellent, and your composition is very well seen.
Lovely image and a real pleasure to see. Excellent work. :)

Kirk

[Tim Foltz]

Matthew, very nice shot, super light, BG, sharpness etc., I would like to see just a bit more room in front of the birds, but that's just me.

-Tim

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Like everything about this image, Matthew. The light is exceptionally beautiful, with the behavior captured brilliantly. Well done.

Geoffrey

[Jonathan Ashton]

Such a beautiful image, the colours are so complimentary and the poses are really interesting, great shot

[annmpacheco]

lovely image Matthew, this one has som many wonderful qualities... IQ, BG, behavior and the muted colors are so pleasing. I also like the upright tail of the "grandma tip toe-er!" well done.

[Marina Scarr]

This is one heck of a sweet image. Love the behavior, the light, the low angle and colors. What's not to like!

[Isaac Grant]

I like the colors and the action. Would like to see more room on the left.

Question for you?. What time of year was this taken? These birds seem to be juveniles to me. Although I have not seen one in many years, the bright red cap, bold eye line and buff wash on the breast with no arrow shaped markings on breast seem like the birds are juveniles. Am I seeing this wrong? If so, not so sure they would be showing any mating behavior and are probably just sparing.

[Matthew Jones]

Hi all and thanks for comments. Re room to the left, i agree a pano style crop seems to work well as both birds are on the same focal plane. In this case for the web i wanted to keep the reflection in tact and retain as much of the subjects as possible.

I like the colors and the action. Would like to see more room on the left.

Question for you?. What time of year was this taken? These birds seem to be juveniles to me. Although I have not seen one in many years, the bright red cap, bold eye line and buff wash on the breast with no arrow shaped markings on breast seem like the birds are juveniles. Am I seeing this wrong? If so, not so sure they would be showing any mating behavior and are probably just sparing.

Hi Isaac shorebird aging, sexing based on plumage is complex and i'll state upfront that im no expert, however from the field guides it would seem to me that both birds are adults in non br plumage. The supercilliary stripe contains striations which are absent in juvies and the arrow markings are absent in non-br adults. I have spent many hours with this species here in Australia and only seen this behaviour twice. To me it seems more complex and enacted than sparring which has the seeds of agression wheras this behaviour has the seeds of affection. Just my take on it though, thanks for asking.

cheers
Matt

[Lorant Voros]

I love everything about this one. What a light, action, colors and IQ! Very nice work, Mathew.

[Adhika Lie]

Lovely!! I usually love reflection but I feel for this one I feel like it distracts me from the action above. I will probably think about cropping off the bottom a little bit, but I love it as presented, too.

[gail bisson]

This is one of the nicest images posted on Avian this year.
I love everything about this image.
The light is to die for, the color palette truly beautiful, POV perfect, behavior depicted superb.
I would not change a thing.
Very very nice Matthew.
IOTW I think!
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Missed this on first glance; the thumbnail didn't do it justice. Fabulous behavioral image. In fact, fabulous all around: pose, light color, POV, sharpness of both birds. Well done!

[William Dickson]

Nothing to add here Matthew. This is an excellent image. The pose on both birds catches my eye

Well done and TFS

Will

[Matthew Jones]

Thank you Lorant, Adhika, Gail, Bill and Will. I am glad you like this image and really appreciate your encouraging critiques

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful shot. Nice light soft colors, beautiful smooth reflection ...