Friday, September 8, 2023,
This is a female Oystercatcher strolling near the surf line near Nickerson Beach. I couldn’t decide how to crop this photograph, 3×5 or 5×7, so I’m posting both of them. I think both are pretty good. JK
JK
Joe Kayaker
A Wiseguy With A Camera And A Paddle
These are both excellent photographs JK – nice work
They are both beautiful! I think my favorite is the 3×5, if that’s the cropped out one. The extra sparkle of the water doesn’t distract, but seems to make the Oyster Catcher pop more in her bold black, white and orange.
Gorgeous shot – I love it!
I like them both — you can’t take a bad oystercatcher shot 😉 and they work well as a set so we also get a great close-up of the oystercatcher. How can you tell it’s a female?
Thank you all. I appreciate your input.
Michele, yes, I can take a bad Oystercatcher photo. I’ve got dozens, nay, hundreds of bad Oystercatcher pics. I just don’t post them. 🙂 JK.
I don’t believe you. 😉
And what about my question? How do you know this is a female? Did she bat her eyelashes at you? How can you tell?
Michele, it has to do with the eyes. The female has what looks like a second pupil which is really just a black fleck near her pupil. I’ll try to find a pair of pics that can illustrate the differences, but in the meantime, perhaps this post from three years ago will give some idea of what I’m talking about. The female is the one in the foreground, slightly out of focus. JK
http://www.joekayaker.com/blog/?p=6887
Ohhh! So it looks like a double pupil. I never would have noticed that as significant. I just thought it an individual anomaly. Interesting! Thanks. 🙂
No problem, Michele. Truth be told, when I first started shooting Oystercatchers, I would get frustrated at the many “googly-eyed” pics I was getting. JK.