Early morning at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California
During all my visits to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve at the Pacific Coast in Southern California over the years it always paid off to arrive early in the morning before sunrise. First, you find a place to park the car in the very small parking lot, but more important, nothing beats the warm morning light for making pictures of birds in the wetlands if the sun shows up. This wetland is a nature gem and is surrounded by the Pacific Highway on the ocean beach side and oil wells, local roads, and expensive residential homes on all the others. A weird and somehow noisy place that faces many environmental challenges but with an abundance of wildlife.
Northern Pintail
This photo of a male Northern Pintail was made exactly at the time of sunrise but a band of clouds prevented that the story could be told that way. No warm light on this beautiful duck. Still one of the best looking ducks with a tail that gave this bird its name.
Horned Grebes in their winter plumage
Twenty minutes after sunrise time the clouds gave way and these Horned Grebes in their winter plumage were busy diving for food under water. They are much more impressive in their breeding plumage during the summer, but hey, look at this eye standing out in the killer light of an early morning! I had to make the click.
Bufflehead
I have photographed the male Bufflehead many times before here in the Upper Mississippi Valley during migration time in March / April, but never in such warm light and often not as close to the bird as I wanted and as it is possible in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.