3 Birds in One frame !! - missing shadow !?!?

 

Very happy with this picture of birds at Foreshore Estate .. ..there are three different species in distinct poses (standing, foraging and mid-flight) in the same frame !!   They are : 

•          Black-winged Stilt: A wader with distinctive long, slender red legs and black-and-white plumage, commonly found in Indian wetlands.

•          Black-tailed Godwit: A large migratory wader captured here in flight, characterized by its long bill and orange-brown breeding plumage.

•          Little Egret: A small, white heron with a black bill and legs, often seen wading in shallow water.

 

                      At first glance, it looks like the Black-tailed Godwit (the bird in flight) is "shadowless," while the Great Egret and Black-winged Stilt have clear reflections below them. 

However what we see directly beneath the white Egret and the Stilt are actually reflections, not shadows.

•          Reflections occur when light bounces off an object, hits the water, and travels to camera lens. They appear directly "attached" to the object if it is touching the water.

•          Shadows occur when an object blocks the sun's light from hitting a surface. Depending on where the sun is, the shadow might be cast far away from the bird. 

The Egret and the Stilt are standing in the water. Because they are in direct contact with the surface, their reflections are perfectly aligned and highly visible right beneath them.  The Godwit, however, is flying. Since the bird is higher up, its reflection would appear further down the "canvas" of the water from the specific camera angle. If the water were perfectly still and the frame wider,  we might see it lower down. Because the bird is moving and the water has small ripples, the light scattering makes it much harder to see a crisp reflection compared to the birds standing still.

Interesting inputs gotten from Google GeminiAI

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
22.3.2026