on the beach

[John Chardine]

Shorebirds in all plumages are superbly camoflaged, whether they are breeding on the Arctic tundra or stopping over on their way south like these Semipalmated Sandpipers at Johnson's Mills, NB. Their colours blend so well as does the scaly or spotty pattern on their backs and wings. When roosting these birds are very vulnerable to predation by falcons such as Peregrines and Merlins, so the camo comes in handy.

Very little crop here. Cleaned up the water a bit. There is a lot of detail in the image which required a jpeg compression down to 54% to come in under 200kb (ref. http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...206#post724206).

Date: 15 August, 2008, Time: 1144h
Model: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x, 700 mm
Program: Aperture Priority
ISO 640, 1/250s, f/16 (to obtain a good depth of field)
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: off

[Kerry Perkins]

Great image for the theme John! I love it. I also love the little heads all tucked in for a nap. I like the little bit of the sea at the top, makes a nice framing element.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

This is a great nature picture for the theme and in general. I love pictures like this that show a variety of birds and some of the habitat. This is nice study in the complicated form and colors in nature. Both are helpful to survive and are beautiful to observe.

[gail bisson]

I really like this birdscape. I especially like the elevated bird at mid-bottom. Well done, John,
Gail

[Cheryl Slechta]

John, great birdscape. I love their resting poses and especially like the rocks (they remind me of seals)

[John Chardine]

Thanks everyone. You know Gail, I never saw that elevated bird until you mentioned it. The image underscores how difficult it is to get enough depth of field to get the foreground and background in focus. One approach I use these days is to make an image focussed at 3-4 distances and then merge them. It would have worked well here where there is almost no movement.

[Craig Wallace]

Nice image for the theme, amazing how nature uses colors and patterns for protection and stealth.

[John Chardine]

Thanks Craig. It isn't really amazing, it's just evolution. And I say "just" because a lot of people are of the misguided opinion that evolution is some sophisticated, complicated mechanism; it isn't, it's very simple. Over millions of years, shorebirds have slowly developed this coloration and markings because ultimately, individuals with these markings survive better than individuals without. You can call this "nature" as a shorthand, but one should not forget that nature is just a simple, unknowing mechanism.

[Jim Buescher]

John,
I can see how the cryptic plumage of these birds would help an individual but looking at this image of the group I can't help but think that the color and patterns also would benefit them collectively as a group by making it difficult for a predator to pick out an individual. Is this a survival strategy to flock together, to kind of blend in with others and not just the habitat around them? ...Wonderful theme image, very well done.