Greater Yellowlegs

[Aidan Briggs]

I found fourteen Greater Yellowlegs in a freshwater pond on the beach two days ago. I laid down at one end of the pond and eventually a whole group of them worked their way over towards my position and began feeding right in front of me. This one is swallowing some sort of worm.

Some may find the water droplets near the front of the bill distracting but I decided against removing them.

Almost full frame

50D, 100-400 at 310mm
1/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Aidan, this is awesome. You know I love extreme low angles. Pose, IQ, bird angle, crop are all superb. thx a lot for sharing. I wish the shorebirds here in Dallas came within the reach of my 400. buggers are too skittish.

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks Kaustubh, I know how you feel. I am often left frustrated by the peeps that stay right outside the range of my 100-400. It's a nice treat when birds are so cooperative :)

[Bill Dix]

I share your frustration with the 400; have had little success with Yellowlegs. Your patience here was well rewarded. Lovely pose, plumage and bg. I'm torn about the incomplete reflection and wonder if it would look better without it.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Angle, pose, sharpness, eye contact and open bill look very good. I might have included the entire reflection.

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks Axel and Bill. I have other shots with the full reflection though none of the reflections are very clear, and IMO this image this image looks better without it. Just a personal preference though :)

[Jory Griesman]

Agree with above positive comments (exposure, angle, background, all good).

RE: reflection. I always have a hard time deciding whether to include the whole reflection, as it sometimes throws off the overall crop/balance. Would be interested to see how this would look as a vertical, with the complete shadow.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Aiden, I love the low angle, the soft light and the details. The water drops take this over the top for me :)

[Fabs Forns]

I like the soft pink light, pose, detail and composition. I"m fine with the bier of reflection. WHole one wouldn't hurt either, except that your compo would need to be more vertically centered.

[Art Kornienko]

The angle puts it over the top. I too would have preferred more of the reflection or remove it entirely.

[denise ippolito]

Aidan, I like the low angle and the pose. The water drops don't bother me either. The pale golden water is nice.

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks everybody for the input. It is much appreciated. I did a quick crop to remove most of the reflection. I think I like this version better.

[denise ippolito]

It does look good.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Aidan, even before I scrolled down to your repost, its exactly the comp I would have gone for. Great perspective, and of course the open bill with the droplets takes this up a notch. Well captured.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice low angle details and the water drop adds more

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Aidan, Thanks for the link to this one. I like the repost better than first one. In this situation I am about 50-50 for the one with the full reflection vs. the repost here though I would give the nod to the repost by a hair :)

BTW, for those who are having trouble getting close to the adult shorebirds do note that Aidan most likely approached these birds by crawling in from a considerable distance...