On the final day of my early May visit to Yellowstone, we found a pair of avocets wading along the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake. This is a spring migrant that’s occasionally seen in the park for brief periods, so I haven’t had many opportunities to photograph them over the years. This pair was quite tolerant, allowing a few people to set up on shore some 30-50 yards away as they went about their business. Not sure if I was on my belly for this one, but it was nice to get close to eye level with this beautiful species for once.
Excellent pose and reflection. The dripping water from the curved bill is the added plus. The only thing that I might consider would be to try to drop some of the highlights on the white plumage to see if you could bring out a little more detail.
Really good reflection on this one with relatively calm water helping the reflection to really come through. I agree with David that perhaps a bit of detail extraction from the white plumage might be nice.
Good suggestions ahead of me and no doubt it’s helped make this stunning shot even better. AAs are such graceful birds and you’ve caught that well here. The arc of water is just a sweet bonus. Oh and the reflection, too. Nice job with catching this rare visitor. I don’t think they come anywhere near northern Wisconsin.
A wonderful image of a beautiful bird. He’s given you a great pose and that dribble of drops is the icing on the cake. The colours of blue and brown are very appealing.
I look at the image and feel the image needs a flea’s whisker of a CCW? Maybe my wonky eyes!
I have a feeling this is exacerbated by the lighter ripples behind the bird, which are sort of laid out in a manner that’s slanting upward. I did my alignment from the legs through the ripple in front (leading to the dripping water). Looking at that portion of it, it seems more level than if I focus on the back side.
Gorgeous shot! The gray environment is so lovely for the bird’s color and the light is perfect.
I had the same feel about the rotation but sliding the brower across so the eyes are at the edge of the monitor, they do seem to line up properly. In cases like this I’ll often resort to a tweak of distortion, or do a rotation that “feels” right.
Lovely action and reflection and a great low angle, Max. Others have mentioned the whites and it sounds like you figured out how to tame them. The level looks good to my eye. A beautiful image of a species I want to spend more time with.
Hi Max
This is a great low angle photograph, the reflection, water spout, eye contact and coloring are great. I have never seen a American Avocet, thank you for the post.
Peter
This is a great shot of this Avocet, Max! The reflection is a big part of the attraction and the trail of water from its beak looks like it’s being sucked up like a tiny little cyclone! The low angle is nice also and the only thing I can see that could be better is the overexposed white feathers on the shoulders and back.
