I think this is a solitary sandpiper. Please correct me if I am wrong. I shot the image in YNP along a Yellowstone River side channel in the late afternoon/early evening in mostly shady conditions. It is a minor crop (~25%) with sharpening & a slight curves adjustment. A lower perspective was impossible because I was on a platform & using the fence around the platform as a blind. Moving to the water's edge would have sent this fellow on his merry way & left me without an image.
I like the reflection & that I can see his toes in the water amongst the rocks on the river bottom.
Your elevated shooting position helped you on the reflection, so a nice trade off.
Because of the nice reflection, I wish there was just a bit more space below, so the reflection doesn't feel crowded. I also might consider cropping from the right a bit, and/or toning down some of the bright reflections in the background so they don't pull our eye away from the bird.
The slight shading on the tail is a minor point, but the majority of the bird is well illuminated.
Good critique by Randy, and I agree with him. I'd go with "Spotted" as the legs are not as yellow and appear shorter. The bill colour and large amount of white on the face could throw off ID...but I'd still go with that.
There is a lot of stuff in this image which gets in the way. I would clone out the rocks that are behind the bird's back. Possibly tone down the blue. I would tone down the bright highlights on the right.
This is a solitary sandpiper as said on spotted sandpipers the spotting is on the breast/belly,spot sands are smaller to.Note the white eye ring & in flight these birds show a vertical line running up the tail extendng on to the rump.
Solitary Sandpiper
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