Wilson's Snipe

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I got this shot a couple of days ago at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. It is the first Wilson’s Snipe I’ve seen down there. Cool looking bird. D-500, Nikon

200-500mm lens, Nikon 1.4 TC, hand held, 1/1250th, f 8.0, 700mm, ISO 1000, cropped to 1705 x 2044, AI Clear

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A nice look at the Snipe with the head turn and in a typical environment. Maybe a tad tight on the right?

A nice look at the Snipe indeed, Douglas. I like the position you caught him in.

Nice detail in the Snipe, Dave. The busy background doesn’t bother me, but the one almost vertical reed chunk in the lower left foreground really draws my eye-you might look at doing something about it.

Dave,

Nice photo of an elusive (quick flying) bird. Not to hijack the thread, but I have a couple of newbie questions. Were you able to photograph him (her?) for a while, more than a few minutes? Was it walking around hunting for insects? Then for me, why f/8 and not a wider opening to blur the background a bit? Thanks for any help you can provide.

It was spending enough time pecking around in that stuff that I had time for several shots. f 8.0 is as far as I can stop down with my big lens and 1.4 TC.

Thanks. Understood. It is not always easy to get these critters to do what you want!