Whimbrel - Frenchtown Road, Bolivar Peninsula, TX

Sometimes when I find a good subject in a cluttered environment such as the one in the image below, I imagine what it would be like to have the subject in a situation similar to a portrait studio where the photographer has control of the lighting and background.

Whimbrel - Bolivar Peninsula (TX), April 26, 2017

Join me in such an imaginary session as I approach the subject slowly and obliquely, establish rapport, and gradually lead the subject into a series of interesting poses.

My Instruction: O.K. why don't you hop up on one of these posts and relax for a minute while I check camera settings and move my gear so the images will have a smooth background?

The imaginary Whimbrel's response.

My Instruction: I'm all set now. We should get a few basic profile shots. Sometimes they turn out to be among the best images in a session. Turn your head so you are looking to my right. 

The imaginary Whimbrel's response.

My Instruction (after a few standard poses):  Very good! Now, how about a few poses that are more dramatic?

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My reaction: Wow! I'm glad I did not ask you to do something destructive!

For the viewer.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pellet (ornithology). A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth. In falconry, the pellet is called a casting.

The passing of pellets allows a bird to remove indigestible material from its proventriculus, or glandular stomach. In birds of prey, the regurgitation of pellets serves the bird's health in another way, by "scouring" parts of the digestive tract, including the gullet. Pellets are formed within six to ten hours of a meal in the bird's gizzard (muscular stomach).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_(ornithology)