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Six-legged Plover

Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), Plymouth Long Beach, Plymouth, Massachusetts, June 18, 2010, 6:29 am, by Jim Fenton
Published: August 20, 2010
Piping Plover
Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), by Jim Fenton
When Jim Fenton left his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts, last June, it was still dark. His destination — Plymouth Long Beach — was an hour and a half away. The beach is excellent for terns and shorebirds, a rest stop for migrants in the spring and fall, and a breeding area for threatened Piping Plovers. He wanted to be there, ready to photograph, in the fresh light of early morning.

When Fenton arrived, the birds were still in the dunes. Knowing they would soon move onto the tidal flats to feed, he laid down near the waterline with the outgoing tide behind him and waited. In time, a female plover and three chicks began working their way closer. Fenton positioned himself to intercept them.

What happened next was magical: The female stopped in front of him, and two of the chicks snuggled in under her feathers. When only their legs were visible, Fenton took his shot.
Equipment used
Camera: Nikon D300S
Lens: 600 AFVR, AF-S teleconverter TC-14E II, focal length 1000mm
Tripod: Gitzo 5540 LSV carbon fiber with Wimberly II Gimbal mount
Settings: ISO 500, 1/800, f/8, aperture priority, +1 exposure bias with center weighted metering, focal distance 15m
Light: Early morning, no flash
Format: RAW converted to TIF
Adjustments: Cropped 40%. Conversion with Nikon Capture NX2, resizing and sharpening with Photoshop CS5.
Jim Fenton
Meet the photographer
BEACH ARTIST: Jim Fenton, shown here taking a picture on Plymouth Long Beach in Massachusetts, has been photographing shorebirds for six years and contributing to our Bird Photography Forum for three. In 2007-08, he was artist in residence at Plymouth Beach for the Goldenrod Foundation, a non-profit organization that conserves and protects coastal habitat for shorebirds in southeastern Massachusetts. He lives in Haverhill.
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