<\/p>\n
![\"black-necked](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/black-necked-stilt-8063-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n At first glance it appears that this Black-necked Stilt (image taken three days ago at Glover Pond)\u00a0is about to topple over onto its face but nothing could be further from the truth.\u00a0 The image is not tipped away\u00a0from true-level as I carefully rotated the photo using the reflection as a guide.\u00a0 What we see is exactly what existed in nature and the image is level.<\/p>\n Our brain gets conflicting visual cues here – on the one hand the angle of the legs and body tells us the center of gravity of the bird\u00a0must be\u00a0so skewed to the left\u00a0that the bird is about to fall over but then we also see\u00a0from the ripples on the\u00a0water that the water’s surface must be level\u00a0so it’s not a problem of rotation.\u00a0 So what’s going on here?<\/p>\n The explanation comes from what we cannot see – the very long lower legs and feet\u00a0beneath the surface of the water (if you’re unfamiliar with the extreme length of those legs, see here<\/a>).\u00a0 The leg joint just below the surface is really the “ankle” and not the “knee” so it bends in the opposite direction of our knees.\u00a0\u00a0As a result those long lower legs that we can’t see have placed the feet in the mud directly below the arch of the neck (approximately)\u00a0and that foot position balances the body of the\u00a0bird.\u00a0 Some viewers will likely “see” what’s really going on more quickly than others, which is typical of optical illusions.<\/p>\n Even though this image appeals to me for a variety of reasons (the interesting pentagon shape formed by the legs, bill and their reflections among them) it’s not a photo that I’d likely print.<\/p>\n But that doesn’t keep me from enjoying it anyway.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I tend to like quirky photographs that make me think for a moment or send mixed signals to my brain. Or both. For me, this image is one of those.<\/p>\n