Semipalmated Plover (juvenile)

[Daniel Cadieux]

A small flock of about 12 plovers flew in, circled a couple of times, and landed in front of me. A bit too far though, so I started a low and slow crawl in the damp mud to get closer. Once close enough, I was able to take a few images...until a Merlin came chasing in and flushed the flock away. I gotta say, these are some of the rare times I wish I did not encounter a raptor!!

The fresh "scalloped" feathers, and overall darkish bill (rather than bright orange with a blck tip) indicates a young individual born this year (juvenile).

Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/8, ISO 400, +0.3 EC, natural light, handheld, 80% FF. A whitish area in ULC was covered via cloning.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Man o man, this is fantastic!
Light, low angle, eye contact, pose, exposure, bg all 10/10.
Just love this one Daniel.

[Troy Lim]

Superb shot as usual. Love it. TFS.

[dankearl]

Beautiful light Daniel, The BG looks painted. Very well done as usual.
Your processing is an inspiration.

[Ron Sprunger]

What a rich, gorgeous shot, beautiful light, saturated, too-good-to-be-true BG, and a beautiful young bird to boot. It's terrific.

[ramesh anantharaman]

Love the low angle and the light on the bird. The colours On the BG are beautiful. Overall a terrific image.

[christopher galeski]

excellent image,lighting magic,good detail,love the BG,raised foot bonus,you are the master with this size of lens,I know its good fieldcraft and editing as well.Well done and thanks.

[RAM MALLYA]

Amazingly sharp image considering 100-400 hand held . Love the low level approach and the water web below the feet of the bird

[Craig Brelsford]

Great work here once again, Daniel, from the quick work in the mud all the way through to post-processing and onward to the correct identification of your bird.

[Herb Houghton]

Great shot Daniel, everything looks spot on to me.

[Grace Scalzo]

These semi palm plover juvies are so sweet and you've captured this one perfectly. Nicely sharpened and the slight motion blur in the raised foot adds nicely.

[Geir Jensen]

It was a great picture. Great comp. Wonderful BG. Razor-sharp.

Regards Geir Jensen.

[Arthur Morris]

All perfect: head angle, perspective, raised foot, EXP, soft light, and BKGR. Love the placement of the bird against the blue strip of color. I do believe that it needs a smidge of CW rotation....

[gail bisson]

Daniel,
You are the master of the 100-400mm. Thanks for your explanation on the bird and why it is a juvie. I love to learn this stuff. The image is beautiful. HA, BG, IQ and detail are excellent. I love the raised foot and the water drag on it,
Gail

[Rosie Green]

Utterly beautiful. Wonderful light and a stunning background. I can't drag my eyes away from it.
Rosie

[Ofer Levy]

A lovely image. I got a feeling that the eye was manipulated and brightened more than what looks natural to me.