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Thread: Surf Bird???

  1. #1
    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Default Surf Bird???

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    Fort DeSoto Park, yesterday at 7:37 am. Age and identification please.

    Canon 500mm f/4L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS 40D. Panning ground pod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/7.1. Nine point AI Servo AF.

    I guess that you could call this a habitat image :)
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    Beautiful "habitat" shot Art. I think that this is a Red Knot with much breeding plumage left. Dan Brown

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    Looks like a Short-billed Dowitcher to me, Artie!

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    Dan's ID is correct. Worn adult beginning to molt into winter plumage. For Peter, even a male Short-billed Dowitcher would have a much longer bill. But the reddish breast tricked you.
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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    I'll say this looks like a Red Knot, mid-molt. Not sure of age? The window of opportunity to observe most shorebirds is quite slim up here, so with the lack of shorebird observation experience it's difficult to judge by a single photogrpah ;-)

    I like the bird's warm colours contrasting with the cool blues of the water.

    edit: there were no replies yet as I typed this...read them afterwards and glad I ID'd correctly :-)

  6. #6
    Gayle Clement
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    I like those soft pastels as a background for the warm colors of the bird.

  7. #7
    Axel Hildebrandt
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    Great light, angle, pose and composition, I like the mood. Not easy to find red knots, I'm surprised they are already back.

  8. #8
    Maxis Gamez
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    Hi Artie,

    Love the low angle and sweet light. I would turn down the highlights a little bit.

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    The lighting and the glow in the bird catches my attention. That series of glitter on the edge of the water addes a nice border/framing at the bottom. The split background has worked well here.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Axel Hildebrandt View Post
    Great light, angle, pose and composition, I like the mood. Not easy to find red knots, I'm surprised they are already back.
    Red Knots are already heading south by the 4th of July and a few are usually seen at the East Pond during the first week of July, the 2nd week at the very latest. Numbers of adult southbound migrant shorebirds peak during the last week in July, numbers of juveniles during the last week of August (for most species). Then most of the birds disappear until the 2nd wave in mid-late SEPT.

    Give me a phone call and I can fill you in on the East Pond.
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    Beautiful light composition and detail, I like the hint of surf, and I think the line of highights at bottom adds interest.

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    Hi Artie

    I like the low angle on this photo, which I something I am going to play with some more when the waders get here in numbers, having built a ground pod recently. I don't mind the highlights on the front wave and the colours in the photo combine well. We have quite a waders arriving already (knot, dunlin and sanderling), some still in summer plumage, and the numbers are slowly building. Strangely I found a lone knot on the shore a couple of months back in full winter plumage! We get vast flocks of knot off my local beaches in the winter some of which that can have over 20,000 birds in them. A spectacular site when the are all marching in unison ahead of the advancing tide. The sound of one of these flocks taking off at close range is a sound not easily forgotten as is the swarming mass they create in flight.

    Cheers

    Rich

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich Steel View Post
    We have quite a waders arriving already (knot, dunlin and sanderling), some still in summer plumage, and the numbers are slowly building. Strangely I found a lone knot on the shore a couple of months back in full winter plumage!
    Hi Rich, Strange to me that the Dunlins are back in the UK already; when I was in NY the first Dunlins did not arrive until early SEPT and their numbers peaked in OCT. Once we had a storm driven group of over 5,000 in early NOV (I think...).

    As for the winter plumage bird a few months back no surprise at all. It was most likely a one year old birds. Some of them attain a sort of half-breeding plumage but many keep winter plumage or at least winter-plumage like feathers.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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