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Wilson's Plover
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Wilson's Plover

by Jasper Doest

Gallery: AvianPosted September 4, 20072,121 views23 comments
During my holiday on Curaçao this spring I only spend 1 or 2 mornings photographing. During one of these mornings I ran into two Wilson's Plovers who were very actively hunting around the shoreline. It was a really cool sight to see a whole flock of tiny flies take flight when the birds came in...and I tried to photograph this behaviour. Pfffffewwww....not an easy task. The flock of flies constantly fooled my AF-system, so I ended up with only a hand full of shots that were sharp, and only 2 that I actually liked. Here's one of them.

Canon EOS1Dmk2N
Canon EF300/2.8L USM + EF20II
1/400 @ f/8.0
ISO400, RAW
G1325, M10, Sidekick, anglefinder

Comments

23 comments
Comment posted by Mia McPherson on September 4, 2007 at 5:41 AM
Wow Jasper, good work on getting the bird sharp despite the flies fooling the AF-system. Super behavior shot of the bird and the flies!
Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments
Comment posted by Rob Drummond on September 4, 2007 at 5:56 AM
Fantastic shot Jasper :toast: :toast:

cheers Rob
Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments
Comment posted by Juan Aragones on September 4, 2007 at 8:17 AM
wow, fantastic shot Jasper :eek: :eek: but I see a lot of dust in your sensor :biggrin:
Registered on September 28, 2006, 72 Posts, 779 Comments
Comment posted by Terry Sohl on September 4, 2007 at 8:51 AM
Wonderful shot, tells a great story. :toast:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments
Comment posted by Ron Dudley on September 4, 2007 at 10:05 AM
I like this a lot Jasper. Looks like the bird is hunkering down and just resigned to having to walk through the flies. Nice focusing job under these conditions. I've seen similar scenes with brine flies at Bear River Refuge.
Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments
Comment posted by Ray Sanchez on September 4, 2007 at 11:54 AM
That's a real cool shot with good action, Jasper.
Registered on March 22, 2006, 46 Posts, 594 Comments
Comment posted by Glenn Bartley on September 4, 2007 at 12:34 PM
A very interesting shot Jasper. Well done. :toast:
Registered on June 29, 2004, 448 Posts, 1180 Comments
Comment posted by Richard Ditch on September 4, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Excellent and unique. I've only seen flies like this at the Salton Sea in southeastern CA, and I"m impressed you had the courage to shoot among these annoying flies.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments
Comment posted by Keith A Anderson on September 4, 2007 at 1:18 PM
Amazing and very cool! Way to hang in there and capture THE shot! :toast:
Registered on February 13, 2006, 166 Posts, 1818 Comments
Comment posted by Ken Archer on September 4, 2007 at 3:03 PM
:eek: This is super cool!!! Great shot Jasper!

Ken Archer
Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments
Comment posted by Jay Martin on September 4, 2007 at 3:46 PM
Awesome!
:toast: :toast:
Registered on December 6, 2005, 200 Posts, 2209 Comments
Comment posted by Krijn Trimbos on September 4, 2007 at 3:51 PM
Lovely shot buddy, very cool action. My only nit is that some of the flies are OOF :wink: :biggrin: Just kiddin, love everything about this one! :toast:
Registered on October 18, 2005, 260 Posts, 2979 Comments
Comment posted by Satie Sharma on September 4, 2007 at 7:49 PM
Awesome shot, Jasper! Very unique. Well worth the effort, IMHO. :toast:
Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments
Comment posted by Sara Mickel on September 4, 2007 at 9:51 PM
This is kind of like a shark swimming through herring, same look on the bird's face. Well done.
Registered on June 2, 2007, 35 Posts, 146 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Hanna on September 4, 2007 at 10:48 PM
Great action Jasper!
Registered on July 25, 2006, 23 Posts, 126 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Gulash on September 4, 2007 at 11:39 PM
Top marks for originality Jasper. I hope you has some insect repellant on.
Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments
Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on September 5, 2007 at 1:00 AM
Put this in a holiday brochure for curacao and nobody will go there! :biggrin: Cool shot Jasper. :toast:
Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments
Comment posted by Helge Sorensen on September 5, 2007 at 8:14 AM
Very unique, Jasper - top notch! :toast:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 186 Posts, 1526 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on September 5, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Jasper, I spent a long afternoon at Great Sal Lake trying to get something remotely this good, without success. I know exactly what you mean about the focus issues, as the birds run along through the clouds of flies. Well done!
:toast:
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Chambers on September 10, 2007 at 9:06 AM
I love the look in this image Jasper. It looks like the bird is stalking the flies. Congrats on the EP!
Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on September 11, 2007 at 2:09 AM
:eek: WOW! :eek: Wonderful work to get this! My goodness! Congrats on a well deserved EP for really interesting action shot showing the hunter in its environment.
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments
Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on September 14, 2007 at 1:46 AM
Excellent shot, congrats on the EP.
Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments
Comment posted by Alan Bryant on September 16, 2007 at 3:57 PM
Congrats on the EP, for this fantasic shot

:toast: :toast:
Registered on March 31, 2006, 473 Posts, 1081 Comments