The light, pose, sharpness, and comp are outstanding, John. The broken off stems really look like major obstacles for this little guy. In a perfect world, I would wish that the OOF stem in front of the legs wasn't there. Well done.
Very nice John. Great detail, exposure, and composition. As mentioned, in a perfect world (ie. not this one), there would be no broken stem in front of the legs. BG is very nice, but could do with a little NR (IMO).
Love these tiny little plovers. Beautiful warm colors. Especially nice, as other have mentioned, is the contraposition of the soft, fragile bird and the rigid, angular stems. Good placement of the bird far to one side, looking into the full challenges that life has placed in his way.