Photographed at Werribee Sewage Farm (a real hotspot should you get down here) in Victoria in October 2007.
Canon 400D, 500IS + 1.4 tc, tripod, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/800. I cloned out a couple of blades of grass - one of which partially covered the birds leading long toe.
I like the colours in the sandpiper, as well as the pose and eye which suggests curiosity. I could do without the foreground distractions and you could crop from the bottom up to the edge of the visible mudflat and, if you can bear with it, clone the rest of that tangle on the right.
A species that keeps eluding me in Britain – I'm hoping for views like this one day. I would leave the 'tangle' in (for my eye that's just the setting of the bird), but I would take out the white spots from that area (are they called specular highlights?) for a more natural look in the foreground. But that's a nit-picking comment about a great capture.
The placement of this "Sharpie" in the picture looks good and really nice detail on the bird.
I agree with John about leaving the RH feature for natural look.
Picture looks a bit slanted and I'd be inclined to straighten waterline to horizontal to see how it looks.
Other than that I'd have been very happy with the result were it mine !!!! LOL.
Good work.
Ian Mchenry