Bristle Thighed Curlew- Midway Atoll

[Steve Bein]

On Sand Island at the end of an abandoned runway is an area called rusty Bucket. There is a lot of rusted debris from WWII along the shore at one place. I caught this BT Curlew on the debris. This is a significant crop to get only the perch and the bird. In "Out of the box", there is a distorted view of the full frame with the bird showing through. That makes it clear how much of a crop this is for anyone who might be interested. I was surprised when I organized my images that I even had a some sharp flight shots, of which this is not one. IT is sharper than I expected since I was at 400 on the 100-400IS lens which is not supposed to be sharp at that magnification. the lens was just returned from an overhaul by Canon.

7D, 100-400@400mm
1/1000 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
ISO: 200

[Aidan Briggs]

The 100-400 is a very sharp lens. It is my only telephoto lens, and is tack sharp when used with the proper technique. The eye is not sharp here because the focus is on the legs. Focusing on the eye will yield a more pleasing image. The eye contact and blue background are nice.

[Martin Wallis]

Concur with Aidan, it's also my only tele lens and I also find it very sharp with correct technique. Love the crop and pose in this shot.

[Paul Kusmin]

Nice bird and what sounds like a pretty cool environment, i'd love to go some day.

I wish the head was a bit sharper and a bit more of a side profile maybe but the comp as posted is quite pleasing.