Black-necked Stilt, San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California
While visiting wetlands and marshes in any part of the country I’m always excited to find and photograph different shorebirds. It’s not easy, often challenging, but always great fun to have them in the viewfinder of the camera. Both locations I visited last weekend, Bolsa Chica and as well San Joaquin March, have the same disadvantage as the beloved Green Island Wetlands here in the Upper Mississippi Valley have. The trails are mostly on dykes, elevated quite a bit above the water surface. This is very obvious in the first image I show you today. There was a flock of about 30 Black-necked Stilts in one of the ponds but access is only possible from high above on all four sides. However, this bird species is one of my favorites and zooming in as much as the lens allows helps a bit to make the beauty of this stilt stand out.
Willet, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California
Much easier work with this Willet in its non-breeding plumage during winter time. The bird foraged between the gravel with its long bill on top of the dyke in the Bolsa Chica Reserve. The Willet didn’t seem to have any fear and walked right up to me and my tripod and even underneath the lens. Not the most thrilling background but at least not distracting and showing how well the bird blends in even in a men-made environment. Many birds look better in their breeding plumage, some of them even spectacular, but as wildlife photographers we want to tell the story of the moment, even during times of less favorable appearance.
Short-billed Dowitcher, San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California
The best place to get down to eye level with the birds was right in the parking lot at San Joaquin Marsh. Still about a foot above water level, but at my arrival a bunch of Short-billed Dowitchers foraged right in front of the rental car. They were probing with their long bills in the mud and between the rocks at the shore with high-speed. The power of the California sun helped to shoot with short exposure times, between 1/1000s and 1/2000s, and it was the gesture with the Dowitcher’s head tilted to the side that made me choose this photo for today’s blog post. Still more to come from last weekend, so please stay tuned my friends…