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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/spotted-sandpiper-3015b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"spotted-sandpiper-3015b-ron-dudley.\\"")
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1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I got my first decent Spotted Sandpiper photos of the year yesterday morning. This bird and its probable mate were foraging in and near a stream in the Wasatch Mountains but for much of my time with them the sun was hidden by clouds. I\u00a0 was so excited to finally get reasonably close to this species this year I took lots of photos in poor light anyway and that was a mistake. I’ll delete all of those poorly lit shots en masse.<\/p>\n But the light was better for my last few minutes with them and even though I was shooting at a fairly steep angle I liked this shot because of my lucky timing with the reflection of the sandpiper’s head in the tiny puddle in front of the bird. For me that reflection turns a fairly mundane photo into something unusual and at least slightly special. I don’t think it’s a great shot but it more than piques my interest.<\/p>\n I’d been trying to time my shots to catch interesting reflections in various tiny puddles but to be honest I didn’t even know I’d captured this one until I looked at my photos at home.<\/p>\n A little serendipity was appreciated after the way most things have been going lately.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday morning I got an unexpected sandpiper two-fer.<\/p>\n