Fast

Everything about sanderlings seems to happen fast.



They run across the sand fast, they change directions fast, they takeoff fast and land fast.



And sometimes they even come flying into the frame a little too fast.



It would have been great to have some more space on the left of this shot, but sometimes things just happen too fast.

In the crowd

A group of sanderlings in summer plumage along the shoreline of Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay. The late afternoon was overcast under a heavy fog that just seems to be around all day, every day this summer in the Bay Area. However, I don't really mind the fog as it means there's a longer window for photography both in the morning and evening, and the colors in their plumage come out nice against the bleak scenery.

Sanderling times two

Sanderling duos in summer colors running with the waves at Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay. There was a decent sized flock of maybe 40-50 birds there last weekend, however, there were also plenty of dogs around that loved to give chase. So I had to get my shots in between the flocks being spooked and flying off to a different area before eventually being chased by a different dog and coming back to where I was.

Reason to celebrate -- Thanks for the votes!

The voting results for the 2010 Defenders of Wildlife photo contest have been released, and thanks to your votes, my image of Tomales Bay State Park won 2nd place in the Wild Lands category! (Full results can be viewed here, if you're curious.) It was such a cool honor to be named as a finalist among all of those other awesome images, and even cooler to be voted into second place!

If you're a member of the organization, keep your eye out for all of the winning images in the Summer issue of Defenders Magazine. And thanks again if you took the time to vote!

Peaceful moments

Well, a very busy past few weeks has kept me away from posting new images, but I did manage to slip out for a great early morning walk along Limantour Spit two weekends ago, and we went for a terrific camping trip to the North Coast redwoods this weekend (many images to come, I'm sure -- once I've actually had a chance to look at them). But first, I thought I would share two relatively serene scenes, at least as far as sanderlings go.



For anyone that has watched these guys frantically pick at the beach and stay one step ahead of the waves, they seem to be in constant motion. It was a nice change of pace to capture some fleeting quiet moments with them before they picked up speed again and took off up the beach.

Quick Post - Sanderling lineup

Organized chaos -- sanderling takeoff and landing

Watching these birds attempt to stay a step ahead of the waves is always a fun thing to do. Especially when there is a large flock involved, as its great to see them move in unison. But every now and then, they seem to misjudge the incoming water and have to result to a mass takeoff. My challenge on this trip was to attempt to capture the chaos, as well as the beauty, of such a scene. Below is a sequence from the action that followed a single incoming wave.

Quick Post - Sanderlings ahead of the wave

This weekend we took a late afternoon trip out to Point Reyes, and while we were more or less fogged out of the sunset I was hoping for, I did get to spend some time chasing sanderlings on Drake's Beach. I made some attempts to capture the chaos that occurs when a wave finally catches up to these little guys, and I did catch a few interesting frames of takeoffs. This first one is a bit more toned down, when the whole flock was running along the sand in front of the wave-line.