Greater Yellow Leg

[Nagesh Mula]

I took this picture when this bird was preening itself. while taking the picture, I had this pose in mind with the bird eye open. But this bird was on the shore with head turned towards the land.
So removed some OOF foreground from right most bottom part, considerable crop from left and added equal canvas to the right for composition. However there is no change in the posture and environment.
I hate to say this but I've lot of pictures where the bird is in sharp focus but there are external elements like twigs or dirt on the beaches which are kinda distracting and hence I have to remove them. I cannot submit these pics in any of the competition but I would like to get your suggestions in avoiding these problems.
As always, I am here to learn so please be straightforward with your critiquing :).

EOS 50D
100-400mm @ 400mm
f/7.1, 1/2000
Exp - -1/3

Thanks.

[Charlie VanTassel]

I like the preening action that you captured here. I would tone down the sharpening just a bit, especially in the facial area. Also, maybe just a bit more canvas on the bottom.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, angle and sharpness. The light looks a bit harsh and another vote for more room at the bottom for the 'virtual legs.

As for the setting, I guess you can only look for a part of the beach that has fewer pebbles, etc. and would allow you to make the images you want without having to clone out lots of things.

[Phil Ertel]

I also like the action you captured. Pointing the camera down a bit would have allowed you to include the virtual feet (that is you haven't cropped them; which incase you did re-cropping to included more room at the bottom would be my suggestion.)

[Daniel Cadieux]

The pose is nice, having the eye open combined with the head being parallel to the sensor is a good bonus for this preening behaviour. A bit tight in the frame, you can always pull back on the zoom...at the very least you would have had more water to play with for your canvas addition at right (BTW we can see some PP evidence of where you eliminated some stuff there). Did you physically have a bit of room left or right to move around and get those cloned out twigs and dirt out of the frame?

[Nagesh Mula]

Did you physically have a bit of room left or right to move around and get those cloned out twigs and dirt out of the frame?

Nope, I did not have any other angle in this case.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very nice detail on the bill and very interesting behavior shot.
IMO shots over the shoulder should have greater DOF. The tail
sees OOF a bit. I think you had enough light here.
Agree as above about virtual feet.
Still quite cool photo.

[Brian Barcelos]

Other than what has been said about over sharpening and needing more room at the bottom, This picture is lovely. The colors are great as are the head angle and detail. Congrats.

Brian

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like teh moment captured, light, BG and detail, I would've liked the image to have more room at the bottom and I think I would've have gone with a vertical comp, although probably this pose didn't last enought to recopmose.
Congratulaitons.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I think a vertical would have worked a treat myself. Nice smooth water. Great preening action. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Kiran Poonacha]

One for vote for vertical crop, but lovely details and pose.