Black-bellied Plover at First Light.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A very accommodating individual, often coming way inside of MFD. On this frame, it was photographed a few minutes after sunrise (you can see the sun just over the horizon in the eye's reflection), giving it a nice warm glow. I ended up just as soaking wet as if I had lied down in wet mud, thanks the quite dewy grass, but at least I was clean!

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, added about 10% canvas top and right, reduced the reddish cast on the plover as although it was natural and very appealing seen "live" it was a bit much as a still image IMO.

[gail bisson]

Very nice frame Daniel.
I love the light of course and the low POV.
Always nice to get an image of a bird coming towards you.
Nice to see a little bit of the foot and in a perfect world that foot would be nice and sharp and within DOF (which is impossible with that lens combo). Too bad you did not have the TC off ( so easy to be an arm chair critic!)
Gail

[Debapratim Saha]

A beautiful portrait heading towards you with reflection of the rising sun on eye.

[John Mack]

First light for sure. Love the soft colors here. Little tight on the left. Still nice overall.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto all the positives above and the raised foot puts it over the top. Can anyone age this bird?

with love, artie

[Daniel Cadieux]

I can But I'll let others take a stab at it first.

[Arthur Morris]

I can But I'll let others take a stab at it first.

That's what I figgered :)

a

[Dorian Anderson]

Very nice - and well worth getting soaked! Light and attentive look are great. Yeah, it would be great to have the foot in focus but that's life. Plumage looks
really crisp, so I'd guess this is a hatch year bird. That and many adults are still molting out the breeding plumage.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice - and well worth getting soaked! Light and attentive look are great. Yeah, it would be great to have the foot in focus but that's life. Plumage looks
really crisp, so I'd guess this is a hatch year bird. That and many adults are still molting out the breeding plumage.

Yes, a juvenile. No to getting the foot sharp as that would have brought up way too much BKGR detail. For me :)

with love, artie

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yep, juvenile indeed. This one was so fresh it was still speckled with golden spots on its head and back (hard to see here due to the warm light).