Taken on a windy day on the Sanibel causeway last March. The sandpipers were all huddled together to weather the strong winds, and allowed me to get much closer than usual. Shot with a Canon Elan II, 300L/4.0 IS lens with a 1.4x APO. No exposure info recorded. I must admit that I have had a rough time with the identification of this guy. I am still learning the small shorebirds. I am certain that it is either a w. sandpiper or a sanderling. Hopefully I have made the right choice.

-- Rob Pailes (rpailes@peganet.com), December 10, 1998

Answers

You chose well. It is a Western Sandpiper. Lovely shot. The blurring of the others in the background is effective in providing context. The sharpness of the sand and broken shells provides a nice juxtaposition with the subject (warm/cold). Well done!

-- Lee Daniels (darwinmgt@bayside.net), December 11, 1998.

I have looked at this for some time now. I don't have enough experience to suggest anything. It just looks good as is. One question, How does a perfect ball of feathers on a stick stand up in a wind. Did he/she sway much? If a mark of a good photo is to build drama and tension this one would be - when did it fall over.

Loved it

Ben

-- Ben Lanterman (benl@anet-stl.com), December 14, 1998.

I have looked at this for some time now. I don't have enough experience to suggest anything. It just looks good as is. One question, How does a perfect ball of feathers on a stick stand up in a wind? Did he/she sway much? If a mark of a good photo is to build drama and tension this one would be - when did it fall over.

Loved it

Ben

-- Ben Lanterman (benl@anet-stl.com), December 14, 1998.

I have no idea how that happened, honest.

-- Ben Lanterman (benl@anet-stl.com), December 14, 1998.

Thanks for the comments. This is a great shot of the habit of many birds I photograph, standing on one leg. Many of the larger shore and wading birds also stand this way when not active. The fact that you cannot see the other leg at all always confuses people. I have had people ask me how I got the stick under the bird! And no, he never fell over.

Actually, this image brings a funny story along with it. I was laying just off the beach in the grass, crawling as close as I could. It is one of the few times a skiddish bird like this one let me crawl up to my minimum focusing distance, about 5 feet. Well, after shooting a couple of shots, my right arm started burning, and I quickly realized I was laying right on top of a fire ant colony. The cars driving by got a good show of one of us goofy nature photographers jumping up and down, frantically scraping ants aff my arms and body. Not just a few got in my t-shirt. It was quite a hoot. I counted 36 bites just on my right arm, which took the brunt of the attack! Needless to say, I will always remember to look down before I crawl! Thanks again for comments, I myself wish I just would have thrown a catchlight into the eye.

-- Rob Pailes (rpailes@peganet.com), December 14, 1998.

Terrific work. I think the above ID is correct. I especially like the other birds in the background, though I wonder what the image would look like with just one more stop of DOF. Also, I might crop the foreground/bottom more tightly and the background less tighly. This is because unsharp foreground detracts from the overall impression of image sharpness; also, I think the dark bckgrnd is graphically effective and might be given more weight.

These are just suggestions, and if implemented might or might not make a more pleasing image. It's darn good as it stands.

-- Alexey Merz (alexey@webcom.com), December 20, 1998.