Long-Billed(?) Dowitcher

[Joerg Rockenberger]

I am going out on a limp here and guess that this is a Juvenile Long-Billed Dowitcher. Please feel free to correct.

Photographed today under dark-grey skies in Redwood City, CA. Thanks for looking. JR

Canon 40D, 400F5.6, 1/640s, F6.3, ISO-800, 580EXII, FEC -2, HSS, ETTL, Manual Exposure, Tripod

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the angle and soft light, head angle looks good, too. I would give it more room.

[Fabs Forns]

Nice soft light and good exposure. Tight, as mentioned by Axel.

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous detail and pose I also like the low angle of capture. Well Done!

[Mike Lentz]

Agree with Axel but also like the low perspective.

[Mark Schmitt]

Nice image. The ID is correct: the over-all dull gray in the breast and the rusty edges to the tertials indicate s-b Dowitcher: that along with location and time of year puts probability in favor of the ID. All other comments on image I concure with. Well done.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for the kind feedback. Yes, it's a bit tight as I was really close and I lost a bit of space in leveling the image. Don't trust my PSing to expand the canvas...

What do you think about the sharpness? I can't decide if it's too crisp/oversharpened or not sharp enough around the eye. Weird.

Mark, I presume you meant to write l-b instead of s-b... :)

Thanks, JR