American Oystercatcher

[Joseph Przybyla]

Recently there have been some nice images of Oystercatchers posted so I thought I would chime in with one of mine. I captured this image at Ft. Desoto following the bird as it roamed along the surf line. There is a little history that goes with this bird. I had posted another image of this bird a while back. Gail Bisson, a member and frequent poster on BPN commented on the image. She wrote that in the winter of 2013 she was at Ft. Desoto and noticed a Oystercatcher badly tangled in fishing line. Finding a park ranger she made them aware of the plight of the bird. The staff at Ft. Desoto captured the bird and removed the fishing line. I photographed this bird in August of 2016, the scar from the fishing line is easily seen on the leg. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV -1/3 ISO 280 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a wonderful story accompanying your fine image, Joe. Also was great to hear that Gail had done what she did to insure its rescue by finding a park ranger. Just amazing that three years later, Joe you captured an image of the same fine healthy individual. Good feelings all around.

Geoffrey




http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Arthur Morris]

Great story and a pretty nice image. I love that you got the breaking wave in exactly the right spot. The WHITEs are nice and bright and I love the look of the foam from the wave. For this pose there is just a bit oo much head turn toward you. Perfectly square to the back of the camera would have been better as it would have reduced or eliminated the shadow of the beak on the bird's neck and they eye would have been better lit. Image design with the bird nicely back in the frame is perfect.

with love, artie

ps: head angle is always dependent on the pose ...

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot I like the setting and colours. I would be inclined to pull down the highlights a little bit in order to get more detail in the legs and underbelly.

[William Dickson]

Lovely image, with a lovely story surrounding it Joe. Very nice image with great colours throughout.

Will

[gail bisson]

Nice image Joe. I love the green of the curling wave in the BG and the water line on the beak telling us he just dipped his beak in the ocean.
Great POV as well.
Just wanted to add one detail to the story and that is that Grace Scalzo was with me that day and she was involved in the rescue as well!
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Except for what appears to be strong light (but dealt with as good as you could have), I like pretty much everything about the image, and the story behind the individual makes it even better!

[Bill Dix]

Terrific shot, Joe. I love the POV, and the water. Great story.