Hey Patrick,

I know that you see the blog every day, but I really appreciate your leaving a comment. You should do it more often. Yes, bird photography can be hard work at times. I remember you up to your waist in the Pacific Ocean at The Crevice. And both of us doing the same at sunset getting hit in our butts by waves trying to make some good images of a Whimbrel perched on a rock in no-light conditions.

I love both images but if I could only have one, it would be the bird-scape. We each took 1000 shots of the chick once we got close. Steve was behind me and to my right at 1200mm. I can assure you that the bird was looking away to its left 99.9% of the time. So I was thrilled when it woke up for one second and gave us a tiny chance.

I like the suffused bit of green lower left as it balances nicely with the subject on our right. I had moved left and slightly off sun angle to have a slot to shoot through.

Finally, and yes, I am blessed to be able to get out twice a day, get up and down off the ground, and continue to do what I love. Watching me get up, however, is not a pretty sight 🙂

much love to you both, artie

Robin and I both like #1. The small chick looks so cute, but vulnerable. Plus the green background adds a nice bit of color. Probably could go either way on removing the foreground OOF green, and a slight turn of the head by the chick would have been nice. But a wonderful image nonetheless.