Least Sandpiper stretching it out.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A cooperative small flock of these little guys walked over to me as they foraged for food along the mud. It was a relatively clean area of the beach, so of course this tiny fellow just had to stand on some dry leaf litter to perform its' strecth, with nothing but "clean" mud for yards all around!:p

Canon 40D + 100-400 @400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/400s., f/7.1, +1.7 EC, natural light, handheld, small crop for composition.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Very nice, Dan. I like how the bird is angled in towards you...and of course the wing stretch is excellent. Excellent crop, DOF, exposure and sharpness.

[Scott Frye]

Nice colors and I like the wing action -- colors look good against the beach sand

[Arthur Morris]

Elegant wing stretch and quite a fresh bird. What was the light like? Were you on your knees? SH with a perfect EXP.

[denise ippolito]

Nice pose Daniel, I like the full top view of the wing. Sharp and well exposed.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Elegant wing stretch and quite a fresh bird. What was the light like? Were you on your knees? SH with a perfect EXP.

Thanks Artie. Light was harsh enough (as you have probably already figured out from the shadow), and I was on my knees and elbows braced to the ground.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Dan, I was trying to figure out which is the shadow and which the leaves. IAC, you handled the harsh light well by working almost right down sun angle.

[Greg Basco]

Daniel, definitely a successful image. You did handle the light well, and everything else looks great.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Nico Steenberg]

Excellent sharpness and feather detail. Nice timing to get the pose. Subject is sharp and well exposed with good natural colours.

[Myer Bornstein]

nice colors and sharpness