Singing loud and clear

I've always hoped to get some shots of songbirds singing, and this sparrow at Limantour Beach in Point Reyes was most happy to oblige.



It sang and sang while I slowly rotated around its branch to try a few different angles, getting some of the sandstone cliffs and some of the sky as the backdrop.



Finishing up its last note:





I also wanted to remind everyone the 2010 Defenders of Wildlife Photo Contest voting period runs until Sunday, April 4 at 5pm Eastern. If you haven't already, I would like to encourage you to go to their site to vote for my image of Tomales Bay State Park, which was selected as a finalist. You can learn more about the contest and see my image in my previous post. Thanks!

I need your votes – finalist in the Defenders of Wildlife photo contest

I'm honored to have one of my images selected as a finalist in the 2010 Defenders of Wildlife photo contest. There were over 10,000 entries, and the judges have narrowed it down to just 10 images split into two categories. My image, taken in Tomales Bay State Park, was selected as a finalist in the "Wild Lands" category, and the prize winners will be determined based on your votes. The grand prize winner will be going on a week-long photo tour of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks with expert wildlife photographer Jess Lee, who just had an image on the cover of National Geographic in March. The top 3 landscape images and top 3 wildlife images will also receive prizes, and be published in the summer edition of Defenders magazine.

Please feel free to forward this page to any of your friends, relatives, or coworkers that might be interested in voting! You can even use the "Email Post" button at the bottom of this page to do so.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and especially for your votes in this contest!

Cheers,
Pat.

PS -- If you would like to follow my work, click on the "Subscribe to Posts" button in the upper right corner to put my feed in your reader!

Quick Post -- Western Burrowing Owl

From a February walk in Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina.



This bird seemed particularly nervous about overhead predators, glancing skyward every few minutes.

Great blue heron with attitude

Flipping back through some images from earlier this year, I realized that I have a handful of heron and egret shots from a sunset spent at Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands. I've had many experiences where great blue herons will fly away they moment they even think you might have seen them in the distance, but I've often found that when they are in fishing mode, they are easy to approach. That was the case for this beautiful bird, as it completely ignored the photographer crouching along the shoreline as it sought out many small fish to make up an evening meal.



Checking out this heron straight on definitely gives an air of attitude, but its attention was totally on the fish it was stirring up with its slow walk in the shallows, and not at all on me.



This particular bird was quite impressive with its fishing skills, as it rarely made a strike that didn't end with a fish. It was a fun opportunity to rotate the camera to a portrait frame as well, as other than the strikes, it stood tall throughout much of the encounter -- often with one eye peering down at the water.

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.