The Crystal Coast is blessed with one of the largest populations of American Oyster Catchers along the North American East Coast. Their black and white plumage is strikingly highlighted by their bright orange bills, yellow eyes and eye circles. It’s hard not to find these birds a pleasure to see. For these images I used my kayak to get close to the birds and to get me to a near eye-level point of view for my camera.

From a photographic stand point some folks my find these guys a bit challenging. Anytime you’re photographing two tonal extremes there is a risk of your camera’s onboard metering system being fooled. This is where it a) pays to know your camera or b) makes sense to use the histogram to insure you’re getting proper exposure. You don’t want to blow-out the detail in the white feathers, end-up with muddy gray-white feathers, or lose detail in the dark feathers by blocking the blacks. Here are a few shots from a few days ago.