American avocet, Radio Road Ponds

A few more shots from the nice encounter I had last month with a large flock of American avocets at Radio Road Ponds. Mid-march is right at their transition time from the basic plumage, which is in grayscale, and their breeding plumage, with the beautiful cinnamon coloration.



Regardless of their plumage of the day, I find these birds to be so elegant. They stand tall, with a long smooth shape to their body and bills, and they just seem to float as they walk.

Northern Shoveler at Radio Road Ponds

There's just something about northern shovelers that fascinates me, and it's always a pleasure when I get a chance to photograph one from up close. In most locations I've found them fairly skittish to approach, but after positioning myself along the edge of the water at Radio Road Ponds this one came quite close (in addition to others). In the shot below, he is motioning and vocalizing towards another duck that was in the area -- although I can't remember if it was a greeting towards a female or a less friendly call to a male rival.

Submitted to World Bird Wednesday -- follow the link to see the posts for this week!

Willet on blue, Moss Landing State Beach

The unseasonably warm temps with plenty of sunshine the past few days calls for a colorful and warm picture. Here's a willet cruising along the shoreline of Moss Landing State Beach, with the gorgeous blue of the Pacific behind.

Black-bellied plover after sundown, Pillar Point Harbor

I took so many shots of this individual plover as we spent over an hour together on the beach at Pillar Point Harbor last month, and I have a lot more to edit and prepare for uploading. Before this experience I had always found black-bellied plovers to be rather skittish. However, this one was really successful at pulling up worms from the sand, and it seemed to be so focused on the task at hand that it could care less about the photographer tagging along behind.

The Dance Continues, Avocet Courtship at Radio Road Ponds -- Part 2

This is the second half of the courtship and mating ritual of a pair of American avocets that I witnessed at Radio Road Ponds in Redwood City. Here's a link to Part 1.

As illustrated in Part 1, the male danced around the female and stopped to preen for a few minutes, each time seemingly gaining in intensity and getting closer and closer to the female. Soon enough he came right up to her side and began rapidly thrashing his bill through the water and splashing both of them.


As quickly and unexpectedly as he started splashing, he stopped and immediately hopped on top of the female. He seemed to have a little trouble finding his balance at first, but then was able to steady himself.


A brief moment of copulation followed...


...and the next generation of avocets was created.


It took him a little while to find his balance, and the actual mating was pretty quick, but all the while I was firing off frames and marveling at the incredible ritual I was watching. Even with the excitement of photographing this special moment, I was carefully watching my buffer counter, since I wanted to be ready to try to capture a few frames of what I knew was coming next. After mating, he hopped back down in the water, and the pair crossed bills and ran forward together for a few strides, the final step of their elaborate ritual. Unfortunately, I didn't get a really great shot of them running together, but it's such a wonderful moment to have witnessed through the viewfinder.

The Dance Begins, Avocet Courtship at Radio Road Ponds -- Part 1

After dropping my wife off at SFO a few weeks ago, I decided to make a quick stop at Radio Road Ponds to see what birds were around before it started to rain again. I've already posted a few shots from this trip of handsome northern shoveler drakes and of the large group of American avocets that landed right in front of where I was sitting. The birds were starting to turn to their gorgeous summer colorations, and it was apparent that a few pairs had already selected a mate.



These two "love birds" spent time together on the outskirts of the flock. I was initially watching this pair just because they had moved closer to my position, but I was surprised and excited to see the female take her courtship pose. I had read about this interesting ritual and seen images of it before, but I had only previously seen it in person on one occasion, which was from quite a distance away. I was very lucky on this day to have a chance to witness this wonderful dance of nature from such a close distance.



After she presented her courtship pose, he spent a few minutes walking back and forth around her, seemingly getting closer to her with each pass.



He stopped to preen by her side on many occasions, perhaps doing his best to woo her with his looks, and demonstrate what a great choice she had made. The preening is apparently a very important part of the courtship ritual, and he seemed to go at it in quite a frenzied way at times.



The mating display lasted only a few minutes in total, and I've included images of the second half of the dance in my next post.

This post is part of World Bird Wednesday -- click the link to view all of this week's submissions!

Little snowy plover, Point Reyes National Seashore

Just a quick post of this cute little snowy plover sitting in the sands of Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. This shot is from an awesome hike I took along the beach last November, when I was able to spend time with a group of western snowy plovers, a different group of semipalmated plovers, and huge flocks of mixed sandpipers.

Preening shoveler drake, Radio Road Ponds

Three poses of this handsome northern shoveler drake preening. There was plenty of posturing between males when a female would swim by, so I'm sure he wanted to look his best.



Preening shots can be really interesting since they show off the bird in a different light than just when it's posing, and for shovelers, it can really highlight the pretty colors they have on their wings. I liked how he had the tail feathers splayed out in the above shot, and his eye is just barely visible in the bottom one has he combs through his wing.

Flock of avocets, Radio Road Ponds

As I was sitting along the edge of the pond, a large flock of avocets flew a lap over the water and then headed straight for me. What a pleasure it was to have 50+ birds land right in front of me. They are such lovely shorebirds, especially once they transition to their full summer colors.

Shoveler stretch, Radio Road Ponds

Northern shovelers are one of my favorite duck species, with their pretty coloration and that oversized bill. Radio Road Ponds in Redwood Shores is a great place to watch them in the winter. They tend to be skittish towards a human approaching the pond, but if you pick a spot and camp out there for a while, they'll eventually warm up to your presence and you can watch them at fairly close range. This particular male preened for quite a while and gave me a handful of chances to get some wing-flap shots.

Plover in the Spotlight, Pillar Point Harbor

I spent over an hour with this single black-bellied plover as it combed the shoreline looking for a late meal. We were along the edge of the water inside of the harbor, and eventually the sun sank low enough to be mostly blocked by the seawall behind me. This left us in a world of cool blue tones, except for a few rays of light that were still shining through from low-points in the wall. The plover was eyeing something up in the sand as it walked into one of these rays, which gave me a nice opportunity to capture it bathed in warm sunshine against the cool, shaded background.

Submitted to World Bird Wednesday -- click the link to see this week's submissions!

Western Grebe on Rippled Water, Pillar Point Harbor

A western grebe swimming through striped reflections in Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay. This shot is from last November, but this is in honor of the pair of grebes that we saw doing their mating dance at the Berkeley Marina recently. It's a spectacle that I've wanted to witness ever since I saw it on Life of Birds. While I didn't get a chance to photograph it this time (it happened quickly and too far off) it was cool to see the birds mimicing each other's movements, and then take off together to "run" on the water!

Tule elk, Point Reyes National Seashore

A tule elk cow standing on the hillsides of Tomales Point in Point Reyes National Seashore. She was part of a very large herd that surrounded my car after I pulled off the road in February. I liked the setting with that lone cypress tree in the background, and was hoping to include in a picture. I picked a spot and waited for an elk to approach for the shot I had in mind -- she didn't quite line up where I wanted, but since I was in the car, I made do with the angle I had.

Singing red-winged blackbird, Berkeley Marina

The blackbirds are starting to make a real ruckus, which must mean that spring is just around the corner! These are two shots from an evening walk at Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina. At least two burrowing owls are still there, although we couldn't find the third that we had seen earlier in the season. Perhaps it was just below ground, or maybe it has left for the summer.

American kestrel, Point Reyes National Seashore

Here are three more shots from my wonderful encounter with this lovely kestrel in Point Reyes National Seashore last month. I posted some others a few weeks ago with the overcast sky as the backdrop, but since this particular female was so cooperative, I was able to get some shots with a more colorful setting too.



Here's a similar pose, but with her tail feathers showing.



I'm not sure what caught her eye for this one, but it makes for an interesting pose, especially with the catchlight in her eye.

Prowling plover, Pillar Point Harbor

A black-bellied plover hunting for worms in the sand at Pillar Point Harbor on Half Moon Bay. There was surprisingly little in the way of birds along the shoreline on this particular evening, but I did manage to make a tentative friendship with this plover. After watching it pluck a number of worms from the sand before sunset, I was able to work my way in close and gain its trust. I followed it up and down the beach a number of times as it ran back and forth, and on a few occasions it came so close that I couldn't keep the whole bird in the frame. No complaints here though -- it's always a pleasure to have the chance to spend some quality time with a shorebird!

Turnstone in kelp, Pillar Point Harbor

Reaching into the archives after a busy week of traveling, here are two shots of a black turnstone in the intertidal area of Pillar Point Harbor at low tide from last August. I've had so many interesting settings in which to photograph shorebirds there, from seagrass to bulbous pods, and the red color of this kelp really makes for a unique foreground, I think.



Submitted to World Bird Wednesday -- follow the link to see this week's submissions!

Frosty sparrow, Tennessee Valley

With the extra cold weather this weekend in the Bay Area, I figured I'd take a walk in Tennessee Valley with the hope of seeing some wildlife in the frosted meadows. Unfortunately, nothing was stirring in the early morning light except for some sparrows along the trail.



Perhaps it was singing about how cold its feet were!

Bobcat among the branches, Tennessee Valley

When this bobcat decided to go off trail for a bit, it made the photography a little more challenging, since it was wandering through an area with a lot of dead vegetation. But I stayed patient and waiting for the moments that its head was in a clearing to try to get an unobstructed view of its eyes. It's amazing how much of the clutter in an image your mind will ignore if you can get contact with a clean set of eyes.



It was cruising along when it heard something in the undergrowth. It just happened to stop right in a clear line of sight for me, and even gave me a glance before continuing its walk.

Great horned owl in Tennessee Valley

We spotted this great horned owl sitting along the trail watching the hikers go by near the lagoon in Tennessee Valley. It really blended in quite well with the rocks, so it's easy to see why it selected what could otherwise have been a conspicuous perch.



Great horned owls seem to be pretty common in the park, and I guess that's no surprise since there are plenty of rodents in the meadows. It's a lot of fun if you plan to be walking the trail around sunset, since they really start to make a racket in both the eucalyptus trees and the willows. We even saw a pair mating as we were walking out that evening! We heard two hoots coming right after another from the same location, and as we searched for the source, it was pretty easy to find once the feathers started fluttering!



We watched this one for a while, and pointed it out to many hikers who were curious about what my big lens was pointed at. I was happy also to get some frames of it preening. My wife laughed and said that most people would be more excited to get it with its head showing, but I like to capture their everyday behaviour as well.

Bobcat in the bushes, Tennessee Valley

Three shots from our weekend encounter with this lovely bobcat in Tennessee Valley. After finishing its meal and strolling down the trail for a bit, the bobcat decided to take a break in the bushes just off of the trail. There were a lot of branches around, but thankfully it picked a spot where I could shoot over the coyote brush to get an unobstructed view of its face.



They are such beautiful animals, and they seem to carry themselves as if they know it. This one looked quite regal, even with its eyes closed.



The cat was eventually brought out of its restful trance by a small white dog following its master down the trail. The shot below is of it eyeing up the dog as it passed -- we were able to watch it turn its head to follow the progress of the fluffy canine. I'm not even sure that the owner knew there was a cat in the bushes, but you could tell that the cat was contemplating if it was worth taking a run at it.

Western snowy plover, Point Reyes National Seashore

Snowy plovers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph, and Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore is a great place to find them. I took this series of images under a heavily overcast sky, but by dialing in some extra exposure, it almost looks like they were in a snowy landscape.



I like the attitude this bird is showing in this shot, with that foot raised while its calling out. I also thought that the straight on view is an interesting way to see them.



The next two shots unfortunately didn't come out sharp, but I thought the captured behavior was interesting enough to share. In this shot it's preparing for a strike at an unseen prey item.



And in this frame, it lunged through my plane of focus (you can see the tail feathers are sharp) to catch a small critter for lunch.