He landed on my Lens.

[LightSpeed666]

I been iced in for 2 days. Cars are piling up on the highway. I have complained about being cooped up and not being able to. But I'm confident that the shots will come. I see things now.

 

[jcdeboever]

Wow!

 

[Jeff15]

Good shot......

 

[Photo Lady]

wow gorgeous shot!!

 

[Scott Whaley]

Love it. Great shot.

 

[joelbolden]

Extraordinary!!

 

[LightSpeed666]

Thank you all. I really appreciate the kind words.
The story behind the bird;
He is tiny. Smaller than a sparrow. I don't know what he is. Never saw this kind of bird before.
Obviously he likes to hang around water and cruise around on the floating logs and stuff.
When he came in to land I wanted to try to catch him in flight. I was shooting at effective 420mm
and he was just too fast. Or I'm not fast enough. Before I knew it, he landed right on my lens hood.
And then fluttered down right in front of me, onto the floating logs.
The Orange background highlights are a combination of leaves being reflected form the trees and some type of colorful algae along with the water and some ice.
It was COLD, I mean COLD. When I started blasting him, I stayed on him, different ISO's different shutter speeds, just general different exposures.
I probably have 4 or 5 gigs worth on this subject. Maybe more. I continued to shoot at him until my hands started to hurt from the cold and the light faded.
When I got home, I thought I had frost bite. It was painful. But I thawed out, and I'm ok. Didn't lose any fingers. lol.
He never knew I was there. These small birds are fast. Every movement is vibration like and they never stop moving. The low light did me no favors.
The above image was gotten by turning the camera and this is when he was closest to me.
He had just poked his beak in the water and picked up something, but I don't know what he was feeding on.
He's a well camouflaged bird, whatever he is......as you can see in the image below. He blends right in, he sure does.
It was a hard shoot , uncomfortable and like 23 degrees F. I enjoyed every second of it as it was happening. I think my will to get the shots overcame my freezing hands.
Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone. You make me better.

LS6

 

[Scott Whaley]

A Google search shows it to be a Sandpiper.

 

[joelbolden]

According to my Sibley's it's a Least Sandpiper, based on leg color and bill shape.

 

[LightSpeed666]

A Google search shows it to be a Sandpiper.

According to my Sibley's it's a Least Sandpiper, based on leg color and bill shape.

I looked at it and yep, a Least Sandpiper. I did not know that I had those in my area. First time I ever saw one.
It's obvious that I've been oblivious to the things around me. But now I know.
Thanks again.

 

[Winona]

Beautiful!

 

[paigew]

Such great shots! Are you in Texas? I hope you stayed safe during the storm and have food/water!

 

[ChrisEdwardsUSA]

Beautiful, subject & capture!

 

[LightSpeed666]

Beautiful, subject & capture!

I really appreciate it, CE.
Thanks for noticing. Means a lot to me.
LS6