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saw these this morning and tried to form a conga line with the birds and their reflections. The best I could get was these 2.

They just wouldnt cooperate!!

Steve

Mah, the birds are here.....

Nice shot

Good to see some of the migratory birds are back.
Apparently it started early this year according to Nicole.

Nicole might be able to better ID this or even Corwin on NSN.
I think it's either a White-rumped Sandpiper or Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.
The waders/waterbirds aren't my strong point
I want to get to know them this spring though when I get my hands on the big fella.

Very nice shot. Like it a lot.

Darryl, the jury is still out on what exactly these are.

There seems to be so many different species that this could be. I have a few guides and still cant decide!! After the 24hrs thingy is up I may post it up for id.

saw heaps of stuff this morning. I got some with a royal spoon bill and egret both in full breeding plumage. tad far away though and I got blown highlights.
Wanted a good shot of the spoonbill cos it looked like a rockstar....nexttime

Steve

Waders are so tricky to id.

I've got some shots of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers from Edithvale earlier this year and the beak looks different. Mine also look a bit smaller. I don't think it's a White-rumped as there have only ever been a few sightings in Aus. My other thought is Pectoral Sandpiper. That's what I'm leaning towards anyway.

Very excited it's spring. All the birds migrating back and hopefully some better weather! BTW...Nice shot. May also look at lighting this one up a touch.

Steve

Problems or not, the concept and execution are pretty much spot on and the OOF bird in the background (rather than going for both in focus) works really, really well.

I think the DOF is a tad bit shallow for me. Woudl have been nice to get that secondary bird a bit more focussed. Either way well spotted and I like how the reflection of the bkg bird links to the foreground bird, not as a conga line, but more like a step

I know it doesn't look like it , but the bird in the background are around 2 feet behind the closer ones, so whereas I would have liked all in focus, with the early morning light, it wasnt possible.

you get distance compression with longer lenses.

Steve

Heheh learn something new everyday

That is an interesting shot and the bird in the foreground is very sharp.

Nicole I wasn't sure about the Pectoral as the head markings on that according to Simpson and Day are quite dark. It's hard to tell without seeing size comparisons of the different breeds.

Steve, out of interest how low to the ground were you? I would of like a lower angle for waders. You really need to start eating dirt for the good shots. Check out NSN, 99% of the wader shots there are taken with the guys crawling on the ground with either a skimmer pod or a gitzo (or quiv) fully stretched out so that the legs are flat or with no pod at all and the telephoto lens foot in the mud. If you have any full length waders use these to cover up your clothes so you don't get dirty.

Nice Shot Steve. I like the DOF effect with the super sharp foreground bird and the other background bird out of focus. Very nice.

Kipper:

I was on the ground, but the water level was a way below that.

I could have got the camera lower but at the time didnt give it much thought.
would have needed to be in the water to get an eye level of these.

Steve

I think a deeper DOF would be nicer, since it would give a nice balance to the shot. Nevertheless, the shot as presented is excellent!