Tale of a Killdeer Photograph

Went out yesterday on a brisk but sunny afternoon to add some shore birds to this year's list. Started at Shark River Hills. Went to the usual little park and found myself looking directly into the sun at a receding, already low tide. There were many gulls who all looked the same but were too far from the camera to be worth photographing. But in among them were some smaller, interesting little birds that looked like plovers but were at the same distance and so even harder to photograph.

But every now and then, a gull would chase one of the little birds in my direction so I'd prepare for a picture but the result was a small bird, too far away. Although even in the shot, you can see that it's a Killdeer. I even took a picture of the gull that had chased it, but that shot was even more into the sun.

So I made way on the the Brighton Avenue bridge to get a better angle, and in the hope that there might be some more, closer to the bridge, perhaps on the up-river side. And, indeed, there were some there, but even farther away.

Then, I noticed a closer bird on the north bank just down-river. It was acting oddly. Standing still an apparently suffering an attach of hiccoughs.

Back on the south side of the bridge, I noticed another bird that was heading towards me. Perhaps it would come close enough for me to get a really good shot. I even climbed over the barrier to get a couple of feet closer -- I toyed with climbing down the bank but decided that might be a tad too intrepid. A couple of joggers passed by and wished me a good afternoon. And, indeed, the bird made my afternoon by coming towards me.

When it reached its closest point, I was ready: