Black-necked stilt wading

Those legs are proportionally among the longest of any bird relative to body size, which is exactly what lets stilts wade into water too deep for most other shorebirds while picking insects off the surface.

Why it matters

Stilts are a good sign of healthy shallow wetland — they need the exact mix of open mudflat and shallow water that gets drained first when a marsh is degraded.

Getting the shot

Got low and let the bird walk into a clean reflection rather than chasing it across the mudflat.