Whaup

Nikon D7000 300mm f4 + 1.7 TC 1/500s at f7.1 ISO 800 hand held resting on car window. Approx 60% of original.

Whaup...Scottish for Curlew if you didn't already know!

Sat by a loch on the look out for otters and this landed right at the side of me... too good to miss! All C+C warmly welcomed.

Nick.

You learn something new every day on UKNP An excellent opportunistic image, Nick.

Very nice and well composed image.

you have done a cracking job with the picture that presented itself, but for me to make the image stand out the BG reduces the impct of the bird too close in colour i think... does that make sense? ...

Hi Phil, know exaclty what you mean! The bird was lower than me on the waters edge and knew I was watching it and as there was no way of stalking closer I took the shot as is. There is a lot of seaweed floating about which is a very similar colour to the bird. There is sun on the bird which has helped lift the bird a little otherwise it would have blended in with its BG....but then isn't that why it has the colour and markings it does? Believe it or not I took over 50 shots and this was the only one that had the sun on the bird and its beak had little seaweed behind the tip ....it is a tidal sea loch and the seaweed was constantly moving around. Thanks for looking and as always I do appreciate people taking time to comment.
Nick.

It's a nice oppotrunistic picture Nick. There is enough light on the bird to lift it from the background. As you say, they aren't supposed to be seen !

Didn't know it was called a whaup. The bird is very nicely lit and posing beautifully. It's a shame the background seaweed competes a little, but that's their environment.