Dunlin and shadow, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

A dunlin stands alone with its shadow away from the rest of the flock at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. Finding pleasing compositions within a flock of birds can be challenging, and sometimes the most dramatic are when you can find an isolated subject set against an out of focus flock. I like how this bird gave itself some separation from the rest, and especially since it seems like its only company was its shadow.

View more of my photos of dunlin.

Flock of sandpipers, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a wonderful first two days of wildlife photography in Massachusetts last week. This lovely flock of sandpipers (mostly sanderlings and dunlin) were very friendly, and accepted me right into their flock. A handful of times while I was lying in the sand with them, something would spook the birds, and the whole flock would take off in a delightful show of calculated chaos!



They would then circle around and land back on the beach. On more than one occasion the flock landed on three sides of me, leaving me quite literally in the middle (too much fun!). Better yet, since a bunch of them landed between me and the ocean, I didn't have to be as careful about keeping an eye out for waves that would get me wet, since every time the water started coming towards me, I would hear a loud uprising of irritated peeping coming from the sandpiper crew to my right.



The four images in this post are all from one take-off and landing event as they circled around me, and are in the order that I took them. I always find it amazing to witness the movement of flocking birds, and it's so fascinating to see how closely they fly together without bumping one another. I also love to see the patterns that form as they rapidly change directions, and especially when the early light is still glistening off of their feathers.



View more photos of these adorable shorebirds in my Sandpipers Gallery.

This post was submitted to World Bird Wednesday -- follow the link to check out this week's posts!

Home sweet home, and my first visit to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

(My Massachusetts shorebird welcoming committee.)

After a month of living in the great state of Massachusetts, I finally had a chance to get outside with my camera. Between the move, getting settled in a new city, my job search, and the death of my step-father, there had been little time to get out and experience my new home. Finally though, I had my first photography trips on Thursday and Friday mornings of last week -- to a fantastic coastal property in Northern MA, the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

The forecast said clouds for Thursday, and since I have seen some amazing clouds out of my apartment window almost every day since moving to the Boston area, I had high hopes for beach photography under a pretty sky. Unfortunately, my first morning in the park was much more reminiscent of a day back in the Bay Area! There was ground level fog and drizzle all morning, which finally burned off to clear blue skies around noon. So while I still filled a memory card with heavily overcast shorebirds, it was not quite what I had envisioned while planning my inaugural trip to photograph the wildlife along the Atlantic coast. Thus, I decided to return for sunrise on Friday morning, since there was a forecast of clear skies -- and I was not disappointed.


(Some birders enjoy the large shorebird flock on a wet Thursday morning.)

During my early morning drive along the highways to get there, I had wondered if I made the right decision to get up so early -- but once I made it to the Refuge and hopped out of my car into the cool, pre-dawn air, there was no doubt in my mind this was the right thing to do. I stopped at parking lot #1, and watched the sunrise break the horizon. There is just something so magical about this part of the day, and it's so energizing to feel the glow of those first rays of the sun. Although I must say, after 6 years of watching the sun set over the ocean, it was a bit odd to see it rise above the blue waters!


(My first sunrise viewed in my new home state.)

I then drove down to the southern end of the refuge, and headed for the beach at parking lot #7, which is where I saw the large flock of peeps the day before. Much to my delight, the flock was still there, and it was comprised of some very friendly shorebirds -- the best Massachusetts welcoming party I could have imagined. I then spent the next two hours or so laying in the sand with these birds. They went about their morning business of resting and preening, and after easily winning their trust I found myself as an honorary member of the flock. In fact, on more than one occassion, after they all took flight and circled around, they landed just a few feet away on all three sides of me. It was a perfect morning, and a great way to start my new adventures with wildlife photography in New England!


(The shorebird flock at sunrise.)

In other news, the list of highly honored images for the prestigious 2011 Windland Smith Rice International Awards was released this week, and I am happy to announce that one of my photographs was selected for this honor. Look for it in print in the next issue of Nature's Best Photography magazine!

View more photos of peeps in my Sandpipers Gallery.

A pronghorn looks surprised, Yellowstone National Park

One of the challenges of photographing the megafauna of Yellowstone National Park is that many of them (at least the herbivores) are ruminants. This means that they spend an awful lot of their time chewing. This can make for the occasional comical shot (this one looks surprised, doesn't it?), but it can also lead to a lot of photos with less than facial ideal expressions. But in the end, you take what nature gives you -- and make the most of the frequent chewers.

View more photos of this beautiful species in my Pronghorn Gallery.

Bald eagle, Yellowstone National Park

For as bird-centric as my photography often is, I photographed very few avian subjects during my trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I had hoped to find more birds, but the large terrestrial megafauna were just too amazing to look away from. I did however, snap a few shots of a Clark's nutcracker (a fascinating bird with a really awesome memory!) as well as this bald eagle perched in a tree in Hayden Valley. I had really hoped to see some trumpeter swans, but that just wasn't in the cards this time. There's always next time though!



As for this eagle, it was perched in the top of a tree and was watching the water below. It had drawn a pretty good crowd, but since it was on the opposite side of the river, it seemed not to care too much about all the people watching it. What it did care about though, is the red-tailed hawk that must have had a nest close by. In the top photo in the post, the eagle is calling out at the hawk just before the hawk flew straight at it and scared it away. It was quite a sight to see a smaller bird come swooping in at high speed, and the bald eagle wanted no part of it.

View more photos of raptors in my Birds of Prey gallery.

Submitted to World Bird Wednesday -- Follow the link to check out this week's posts.