There was a very light breeze on this Italian afternoon – enough to create small ripples on the water. Click on the thumbnail…

I don’t normally manipulate images to acquire a different look compared to the scene I saw, but the fact of the matter is that you need to master as many tools as possible regardless of your trade – and these Little egrets (Egretta garzetta) in flat, overcast light just weren’t popping no matter what (else) I did to them. So I looked at the HDR tool, and chose a rendering that is called “Photonatural high-contrast” (or something along those lines) and this is what came of it. The Dunlins (Calidris alpina) haven’t been manipulated.

The images are from a short stay at Marina Julia, near Trieste in NE Italy. Lots of wintering Dunlins, Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata), Grey plovers (Pluvialis squatarola) and more when I was there, plus a few Great egrets (Egretta alba) and the Little egrets in these images.

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Equipment was the 7DmkII with the EF 100-400mkII – I’m amazed at what this lens can do. In the gallery below, click on the first one to open up an image viewer, then hit f11 to see nothing but birds in your screen.

Here, the bird has spotted a small fish and is going for it.

End of fish life.

Un-manipulated shot – nice image, but dull light.

Dunlins hanging out

It is a dichotomy of sorts that we strive for low-angle shots of shorebirds, yet the reflections are better if we lift ourselves off the deck by just a few cm. I think this strikes a nice balance.

In just a few weeks these birds will be heading North, so the fat depots must be full.

Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) against an Alpine background.

Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) on a nearby forest path.