Lynn Stephens-Tait, Egret Ballet (September Theme: Birds)

This solitary bird was standing on a shaft of driftwood, preening itself. A sliver of late afternoon sunlight illuminated the fine plumes - long hair-like feathers called nuptial plumes, which hang across the lower back and develop during breeding season. Its form had the grace of a ballet pose and the white plumage resembled a tulle tutu. The wispy feather across the eye adds to the mystery. To enhance the features of this bird, I chose to post process the image as monochromatic, removing the distraction of background tones.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.