West meets East

[John Chardine]

I found this beautiful juvenile Western Sandpiper across the country at the eastern end of the Gaspé Peninsula last year.

I had to do some rotation to the original. Also did a little beach cleaning of very OOF spots and lightened the eye a little. Hope you like it. I'm having recurring problems with slight colour shift saving to web. The OOF surf in the BG has a blueish tinge viewed with Safari I'll have to figure out what is happening.

Date: 19 September, 2010, Time: 1611h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x, @ 700 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/500s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: off

[Geir Jensen]

It was a beautiful shore bird. Wonderful BG. I liked the picture very well.

Best regards from Geir Jensen.

[gail bisson]

John,
This is lovely. Has a soft. sultry feel. I love the comp and the little bit of vegetation in front of the bird. I like the slightly blurred raised foot and I like the pastel blue tint in the surf. I really like this. Very zen and simple,
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Love the soft light, the high key look, the raised foot, the nice head angle, and the great bird. Colors look super sweet from here. I even like the bit of seaweed. Go figure!

This moderately worn juvie is surely a male on the basis of the very short bill (for this species). Love the low angle too. What was the date? My guess would be 28 AUG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A real gem of a shot, even the seaweed is a complimentary colour to the bird. Superb exposure and I like the softness of the right foot.

[denise ippolito]

John, Beautiful image design with the seaweed. Lovely soft colors and sharp details.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome image John!! I like the walking pose, and LOVE the sorta raised crest. Great clean beach, and the bit of seaweed adds to it.

I am not doubting your ID, but I would love to know what made you ID it as a "western" rather than "semipalmated" sandpiper.

[Arthur Morris]

I am not doubting your ID, but I would love to know what made you ID it as a "western" rather than "semipalmated" sandpiper.

John did not make it a Western. It is a Western. :) The plump look, long legs, whiter face and breast, darker cap contrasting with the lighter hind neck, the weaker, indistinct eye line, and the rufous-edged scaps that contrast with the surrounding feather tracts (among other factors) all scream juvie Western. Do you have a copy of Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers? It is all in there. :)

John, did I miss anything? (It is hard to see the lack of a blob-tip to the bill with the sand there...)

[John Chardine]

Thanks everyone!

That's a pretty extensive list of field marks Artie, only reeled off like that if you really know these birds. I certainly cannot add to the list. And Daniel, I will come clean and let you know that I posted another image of this same bird about a year ago and called it a White-rump, but was corrected (to Western) after a few back and forths. I felt safe calling it Western this time!

Ecologically, Westerns are very interesting birds (well, all shorebirds are for different reasons!). They have special projections on the tongue and inside of the mouth that allow them to slurp up "bio-film" from the surface of the mud. This film contains algae (diatoms) and other nutrients and is a valuable food source for them. We are discovering that Semipalmated Sandpipers also consume biofilm but we are not sure if it is as important in the diet as with Westerns, and it's not known if they have similar mouth morphology to allow them to do this.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks John! Now I have learned something new too!

[Craig Brelsford]

A lot to like about this shot, not least of which is the ornithological interest. Great job ID'ing the bird and getting low to get this valuable shot. In contrast to some others, I'm not in love with the blurry foot, as I believe the story of the sandpiper walking would have been told well enough with a raised and sharper right foot.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

This is just a brillaint image . Love the hi key and the texture of the sand here !!

[Karl Egressy]

I truly amazing shorebird picture, John.

[Craig Kerr]

A wonderful bird, beautifully captured John... I've learn't a few things, thanks for sharing

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Artie and John for the excellent additional info!

Artie, I do have your book and it does help...still need more observing experience under my belt with these guys, especially with similar rarities (for our parts) to our common ones! Shorebirds are the best...love 'em to death!

[Arthur Morris]

Yeah, I am thinking that I like shorebirds too....

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

The softness of this image even made for a sweet thumbnail, I just hd to look and the large version is just gorgeous. I like the motion of the raised foot and the sand on the bill.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful image. Love the light and the low angle shot. Well done.