Perspective makes a huge difference in photography and I can think of few birds that illustrate it better than the Black-necked Stilt. Those crazy long, thin legs are pretty neat looking and nothing I know of shows them off better than getting nice and low; they really do look like stilts! This individual was watching over its downy chicks at Brazoria NWR during a recent visit and while I was waiting around in hopes of getting a photo of one of the little fluff-balls I was reminded why this species is one of my favorites. To my eye stilts look like they were made by an artist who was making a sculpture to illustrate delicate elegance with an exaggerated, stretched out design. This moment didn’t last long as this dutiful parent found me a lot less interesting than the nearby Killdeer that it was determined on chasing away.

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Himantopus mexicanus