American Oystercatcher
After a not overly productive morning at Bolivar Flats, started to head back to the car but the large amount of seaweed on the beach made me take a detour back off shore to walk along a sandbar, which turned out to be the best decision of the day. Ended up lying down to take photos of a couple of Willets when I heard a non-typical bird for this area and looked up to see this American Oystercatcher circle above me as he was coming in for a landing. Luckily he landed close off to my right. Had to carefully rotate my ‘ol body around without spooking him to get into shooting position. He looked around and then walked away, which allowed enough time to squeeze off several shots. A great end to a good day at Bolivar Flats.
Taken with Canon 1DX with Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens and 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/640 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/640 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
1/1000 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, aperture priority
Tim Timmis Photography 
Real good capture Tim. The nice background really make him pop. I’ve never seen one on the flats. Good find.
July 4, 2014 at 9:08 am
Thanks David. I’ve seen them at Bolivar a few times but it’s a rare happening. Was pleased that this one landed nearby.
July 6, 2014 at 9:18 am