One-legged Run
by Dennis Plank
When I was on Padre Island National Seashore a week ago, I encountered two birds that were just using one leg, though in both cases I saw them later using the second leg to some extent. However, the expertise of this Willet on just one, leads me to believe that it rarely uses the other and then just minimally. I had tried to get far enough out in the water to avoid spooking this bird, but it didn't do any good and it started running away in amazingly athletic one-legged hops. Since it was running from me, (unfortunately) it was not the greatest angle, but I thought the action made it worth posting. This is the take-off for the leap and I'll post the landing later (it could be a week or so as I have to buckle down the next several days and get home from this trip).
7D2, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, hand held, f/8, 1/1000, iso 640, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. This is a full height 4x5 crop, but I was having trouble tracking the bird so it ended up in the upper right and I had to crop bottom and left and add canvas top and right using content aware fill and a touch of cloning. Numerous "dust bunnies" removed. Topaz detail to accent the feather texture and a levels adjustment to the bird to make it pop a bit better from the bg. Taken April 13th at 8:26 AM.
Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.
Thanks,
Comments
7 commentsInterest read though and I do like the 'froth' of the water, in contrast to the sandy beach.
TFS
Steve