Brooding piping plover, Sandy Point State Reservation

At the end of the year it's always fun to look back through the photographs I've made over the last 12 months. In 2019, the bulk of my work came during the summer, and especially during the time when tiny piping plover chicks were scurrying across the beaches at Sandy Point State Reservation. I had been saving a few of the photos I knew would be on my list of 2019 favorites to post throughout the fall, and while I didn't get to it then, I'll share them now.

I love to photograph parent plovers caring for their chicks, and especially when the young ones are tucked underneath to brood. I have many different compositions of similar images from the summer, but I've been really drawn to the combination of lighting and color from the dunes in the background in these. When viewed together, I think this series shows how important the tiny changes in head position can be for changing the feeling of an image. Overall, the top photo is my favorite, with a clean profile view. But I also like the one just above, which adds a touch of connection between the plover and the camera. And then there's the image below, which loses the connection to the viewer and adds the focus of the parent on its chicks.

Thanks for viewing and Happy Holidays to you and yours!!

Favorite Photos from 2019

My photographic productivity this year was constrained to the summer and early fall. While the number of trips was limited the quality was great, and I had a lot of luck finding shorebirds during the summer breeding season and fall migration through Massachusetts. My encounters with the piping plover chicks made it a fun challenge to parse down my list of 2019 favorites, and I tried not to let them dominate my selections. My ten favorites from the year are below, in no particular order.

Thanks as always to Jim Goldstein for his inspiration each year to compile my list of favorites for his annual blog project.


Piping plover chick ready to brood, Sandy Point State Reservation
The moments of interaction between a parent and its young is such a special thing to witness. Here, a young plover chick is approaching its mother to warm up under her feathers.

Sanderling at the edge of the flock, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge
When photographing shorebirds, I generally find myself trying to isolate an individual bird away from the clutter of the flock. It's a fun challenge to incorporate other birds in the background, and nice when it adds to the composition.

Consolation prize, Sunrise sliding down Sargent Mountain in Acadia National Park
I had forgotten how crazy the summit of Cadillac Mountain can be for a summer sunrise, and arrived too late to get a spot in the lot on this August morning. I drove to the overflow lot down the road, and instead of joining the huge crowd looking east, I stayed on the western slope and had this view over Eagle Lake to myself.

Least tern chick at sunrise, Sandy Point State Reservation
A tender moment between parent and chick as they waited for the other parent to return with a fish.

Piping plover chick, Sandy Point State Reservation
Pulling off a portrait of a tiny piping plover chick would be a real challenge if they weren't so delightfully curious. I'm always amazed at how close they'll come if you're lying still in the sand.

Brooding piping plovers, Sandy Point State Reservation
There's something special about seeing a parent caring for its chicks, and I love to photograph piping plovers brooding their little ones.

Semipalmated sandpiper, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge
I'm a sucker for head-on shots of shorebirds, and nailing the focus on the eyes of a moving target creates a fun (or frustrating?) challenge.

Room for one more? Piping plovers at Sandy Point
This photo is one frame from my favorite series from the summer, where four large chicks attempt to brood under their father at the same time.

Dramatic sunrise light, Sanderling at Parker River NWR
The high tides on this particular morning offered a non-traditional lighting for my style of shorebird photography. As this sanderling came very close to my position, I attempted to maximize the warm tones of this dramatic sidelight.

Piping plover chick at sunrise, Sandy Point State Reservation
It's easy to forget about the 3:30am wakeup call when you find yourself taking portraits of an adorable chick blanketed in the warm golden tones of a mid-summer sunrise!

Thanks for viewing my favorites photographs from 2019! If you've enjoyed them, feel free to check out my previous favorites from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009. All the best to you and yours in 2020!

Pied-billed grebes in the marsh, Coyote Hills Regional Park

I believe this 2011 trip to Coyote Hills Regional Park is the only opportunity I've had to photograph pied-billed grebes. As I recall, I encountered them while crossing a boardwalk over the open water in the marsh. Thankfully the water management had the marsh at its high water mark, so it was possible to get reasonably close to eye-level when I went prone on the platform. I enjoyed the chance to spend a few brief moments with this adorable pair before they slipped back into the vegetation.

Black phoebe on cattails, Coyote Hills Regional Park

From the same lost trip in the archives as my previous post, here's a black phoebe perched on cattails in Coyote Hills Regional Park in California. It's hard to beat a morning spent in a wetland, but I had an impression that there was nothing to show from this particular trip to the South Bay and had often overlooked this folder. This past summer I was digging around a little bit in my archives and came across a few keepers buried in the wrack. A heavy evening fog had settled over the bay, casting a nice even light over the marsh.

Female red-winged blackbird on cattails, Coyote Hills Regional Park

I'm fortunate to have a handful of lovely cattail marshes along my daily commute, and its been wonderful to see them surrounded by beautiful autumn foliage recently. I haven't had an opportunity to attempt to capture their beauty, but it's made me think of the many times I went out looking for birds in the wetlands around San Francisco Bay when I lived in California. This particular trip to Coyote Hills Regional park was largely ignored on my hard drive, so it's nice to pull a few images out. Here's a lovely female red-winged black bird perched on some early spring cattails in the freshwater marsh.