Common Eider evening run

[Isaac Grant]

When I heard that there were Common Eider that were summering at one of our local beaches I got there as soon as I could. As luck would have it, there were 5 of them that came out of the water, walked around and even went for a run down the beach! This sub adult male was photographed a few minutes before sunset as it ran down the beach. In all my years of birding I had never seen a sea duck running around and I was thrilled that I had my camera locked on him while he was doing it. The waters in this area of long island turn a beautiful purplish-blue as the sun is setting.

Canon 1dx mark ii and Canon 600 f4 ii. ISO 1600, SS 1/1000, F 7.1

[Walker Noe]

Crazy. Rare look at such a cool species. . . everything works for me here, even the motion blur considering the rest is tack sharp. Love the droplets!

[annmpacheco]

Wonderful work Isaac, what a find! I have never seen an eider running down the beach, mostly they sit on the waters edge... Im happy that the motion blur adds to the movement here, love the subadult colors and the HA and wing position is perfect! I'd flip for this!

[Arthur Morris]

Perfect subject to sensor plane orientation with the bird angling toward you. Head angle, the flapping pose, the sweet light, and the killer BKGR are all perfect.

with love and thanks for sharing,

a

[John Mack]

Very nice. Sweet light. Love the running pose and the water background.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A rather unique image. I like the single toe touching the ground. I'd be tempted to remove the larger bright piece of debris on the lower belly. You must have been rather happy with this opportunity!

[Arthur Morris]

ps: what AF mode? Where was the selected (or active) AF point?

with love, artie

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I like the background colors and the wing position. Very Nice Light as well.

Thanks for sharing.

[Isaac Grant]

Full center zone Artie and 4 points were on the belly which thankfully gave enough depth of field to keep the face sharp. I actually have a string of about 20 shots or so of this sequence that are all sharp.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Isaac. I was really liking large Zone before I switched to Nikon ...

with love, artie

[Dorian Anderson]

A bit like a fish out of water - makes for a really fun shot. Wing and foot blur add to feeling of motion nicely. This is about the only interesting frame a bird that beat-up could yield.
Those summering birds are always in bad shape; They would have migrated otherwise!

[Isaac Grant]

Dorian you know it’s funny but the birds don’t look all that beat up until they raised their wings. I have some frames of them where they look really nice. Especially the lone frmale. Have a fun one of her that I will post as well. But man when they raise their wings they look like they lost a 15 round fight!

[Isaac Grant]

I use it almost exclusively for any action situation and for flight as well. Find it tracks far better than just expand as we have discussed before.

[William Dickson]

Bit late here, What a cracker Isaac. Just love the 'pop' on the bird. I have photographed them lots, as you know, but, never managed a pose like this one. Very well done.

Will