A bird in its element

[John Chardine]

The shorebirds have been in full migration so I took advantage of a good local spot today. I love this time of year. This is a Least Sandpiper making its way down to South America. I only have the one lens right now (burglary) so the 70-300L is keeping me honest. I had to work hard to belly-up to this bird. The depth of field was such that the habitat elements are pretty obvious here and my excuse is that I want to show how well these birds blend in. Minutes before I saw a Peregrine Falcon pass by and of course a standard way prey avoid being eaten is to be cryptic.

High tide is the best time to see the birds but this occurred at 1300h today and it was sunny. I had to make the best of a difficult lighting situation so I used my flash (sans beamer, also stolen and not yet replaced) and tried to fill the shadows the best I could. Processing was bog-standard. Image was cropped to about 40% of original size. There was detail lurking in the eye which I brought out with a little dodging. Comments welcome.

Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM, @ 300 mm handheld (the tripod collar for this lens is not available yet)
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/2000s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: on, Flash exp. comp.: 0.0

[Kerry Perkins]

John, I think it's beautiful and a perfect example of adaptive coloration. These birds are perfectly encrypted by their habitat, which is a key to survival. You did a great job with the lens and the handholding. Getting close is a good skill to have, in case your equipment requires it. My big lens is the 400mm, so I understand that! Good thinking to use the ISO to gain shutter speed. Excellent image on all fronts for me.

[Ken Janes]

I also had hundreds of Sandpipers in the cove in front of our house in Maine today. Also many plovers, dowitchers and yellowlegs. I have not yet been able to get such a great shot of a Least with it's drooping bill.

[Paul Guris]

These juvenile Leasts are really pretty at this time of year. I like how you managed to pull the bird out of the background while still making it obvious that it would blend well.

[John Chardine]

Thanks guys. Paul- It was a fluke! At 15' (I'll have to check the exact distance to subject when I get home) the depth of field for this image was 2.8" or 7 cm. As usual I focused on the eye and so the bird was in focus but not much else in front or behind. I think I am right in saying that with a relatively short focal length (300mm) and f7.1, the focus does not fall off as quickly as it would with a longer lens opened up wider.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image John,good detail,you have done good with lens you were using,is that a water drop on its beak,thanks.

[John Chardine]

Hi Christopher- Not sure what is on the beak. Could be water. The lens is fantastic- an equal to my 70-200/4 IS with better reach and better IS.