Desoto Willet

[Daniel Cadieux]

Taken in early June. In anticipation of my upcoming Florida trip this upcoming February I have been browsing through my earlier files from my earlier trip this summer. I didn't have much time with the many Willets, but I quickly dubbed them the "Mallards of the shorebird world":D. The reason?: There are so many, and they often make it hard to isolate another species in the frame. Man, they almost drove me nuts trying to isolate a dowitcher, and then a godwit!! That's OK, they are cool in their own right and a good addition to one's files (especially us northerners that never get to see them:cool:). I will often remove or tone down the sheen on the bill, but in this case I opted to leave it as it depicts the still-wet bill that just came out of the water...hence the water drops flying.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @340mm, aperture priority, eval metering, 1/1250s., f/8, ISO 400, +0.33 EC, natural light, handheld.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely and sharp, Dan. I like the receding water rushing around the legs. I see your point about the highlights on the bill but think you could probable reduce them a bit without losing the freshly wet look that ties in with the drops.

[Don Lacy]

Very nice image, I really like the comp with the water around the legs as Tony pointed out and the nice diagonal line the surf makes along the shore,

[bill kominsky]

Hi Daniel, love it as shown and the specular bits on the beak do not bother me. very sharp and the detail is wonderful, thank you so much for sharing.

Bill

[Bruce Enns]

Beautiful light on the bird, and a bit of a tilted pose make for a great shot Daniel!

Cheers!
Bruce

[Juan Aragonés]

Lucky man Daniel, hope you will enjoy your trip to Florida and bring back home with a lot of good images. this one is fantastic IMO. Regarding the shinning on the bill I wouldn´t mind about it. I like the wet sensation than that shine adds to the bill. The pose of the legs and the eye contact are fantastic. Well done!