Black-bellied Plover.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Up here these guys don't usually allow a close enough approach for 400mm, but there were two of them Wednesday morning being quite accomodating. This full-frame image was taken while crawling in the muck along the shores of the Ottawa River. The water has been very low all year, and vegetation has grown where normally there is water. It made for very nice setting overall, but tricky at times to get the birds out from behind all that stuff.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @340mm, manual (+2.3 EC, histogram checked), evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, full frame. A tall distracting OOF stem cloned out at left.

[Michael Lotito]

Very nice Dan! I really like the vegetation.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Nice shooting angle, sharp, well exposed, habitat adds to image.
It looks just a bit bright on my monitor.

Cheers

Randy

PS: Do you end up doing all the muddy clothes, I bet you generate a lot:p

[Arthur Morris]

Tonality looks fine here.

So who knows why this black-bellied let Dan get so close???

[Michael Lotito]

Young bird Art. You taught me that!

[John Chardine]

Beautifully sharp as always Daniel! I really like the look of the bright green veg and the light BG.

[Arthur Morris]

Young bird Art. You taught me that!

That would be the correct answer.

[denise ippolito]

Daniel, I like the image design with the vegetation and the high key BG. Nice pose and HA.

[Troy Lim]

Love the high key..amazing details, plus showing the habitat...TFS.

[Craig Brelsford]

Congratulations on getting so close with a 400 mm lens. I like the bottom, leafy-green half of the photo, and I like the very sharp plover. I'm less excited about the plain-white background, though. What was behind your plover? More water?

[christopher galeski]

very nice Daniel,good comp,nice HA,good detail,like the habitat,magic shot.thanks.

[Stu Bowie]

Nicely placed between the foliage, and your low angle of capture has worked so well here. Good light, and overall nice and sharp.

[Nico Steenberg]

Great angle. Like the comp and habitat adds to it. Subject is razor sharp and well exposed.

[Connie Mier]

Daniel, I like the high key effect as well especially with the vegetation. I just posted a shot of a black bellied, is the one I posted an adult and this one is a juvy? There were two of them and one looked like this guy here.
Connie

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Connie. I had a quick peek at yours and you have an adult in breeding plumage at the very very begining of molt (a few light feathers on the breast) as it will soon attain its winter plumage. Mine is in fact a juvie, but the other that you saw may well have been an adult already in its winter plumage - hard to say without seeing it.