Buff-breasted Sandpiper

[gail bisson]

I took a road trip down to Cape Sable Island (not to be confused with Sable Island!) at the southern tip pf Nova Scotia. My biggest trip since November 2019. I have
not left NS since this pandemic started. Aargh....
My purpose was to photograph my favorite shorebird in its preferred habitat of grass and field.
The hardest part about photographing them was to get a clean shot with no interfering grasses. I think that I took 200 images for every keeper.
Canon R5
600mm and 1.4 x
ISO 1000 f 6.3 SS 1/2000
Full vertical crop from horizontal
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Mission accomplished I'd say! Super image pleasant pose with a clear view, eye clearly visible and sharp colours look spot on. I am guessing there were undesirable aspects to the background hence the portrait orientation.

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

I like the view of the back, more interesting than the front view, sharp without being crunchy, good color harmony with the background, but really appreciate the bits of green to add a touch of different color.

Portrait mode works well with this pose.

Cheers

Randy

[William Dickson]

Looks good Gail....Natural habitat, in great harmony with the bird....Lovely pose with enough head turn to get a good view of the eye....I also like your chosen crop.

Will

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gail good to see that your patience finally paid off ....
Nice overall appearance of the image and the pose is good , IMHO.
Love the FG grasses and the green patches , which I might accentuate a tiny bit .

Wonder if the 1Dx III would have delivered even finer details ???

TFS Andreas

[Kurt Bowman]

Sweet pose, love the backside view and great head turn! Your persistence really got you a great frame Gail!

[Brian Sump]

Gail, really a tremendous frame. Superb environment shot with a lovely look at the back plumage and a nice head turn.

Sweet details, even light and nice and sharp. Well executed!

I can't help but wonder if bumping the subject just a touch left in frame (crop just right of that brighter grass on left) then giving it a touch more right might enhance it. Something to look at.

Love the image though, well done!

[Arthur Morris]

A beautiful look at a beautiful bird. I would not mind a small crop from the left to just inside the tallest grass stem to the left of the subject. Beautifully sharp with a great look back head turn. The only negative is that the tail is obscured by some of the grasses

with love, artie

[Bill Dix]

Congratulations for getting out on the road at last, and for getting your favorite shorebird. A very nice result; ditto the positives above. Like you I have not yet had a major trip since the beginning of the pandemic, and my only view of this species has been scope views on the local sod farms. So I'm envious and looking forward to getting out there.