California - Beautiful coastlines, gigantic trees, and so many birds!

I’ve always had a fascination with gigantic trees and I finally got the chance to see some of the most gigantic of them all in person. I went to California at the end of February. It’s home to giant coast redwood trees, beautiful coastlines, and lots of birds (many of which I don’t get to see in Ontario). My trip started with a flight from Toronto to San Francisco that was noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, I was mistaken for a different person at US Customs. Secondly, my plane was covered in snow just prior to takeoff so I got to witness the de-icing process in its entirety.

Lester B. Pearson airport in Toronto is large enough that on a flight to the United States, you actually pass through US customs in Toronto. That sounds like a good idea and it has worked out well for me in the past. However, this trip was a little different. As I carried my camera case and laptop bag through US Customs, the gentleman asked what was in my camera case. I told him it was camera gear and he asked me the value of the contents. When I answered, he asked if I used it for any commercial purpose (which I don’t; I’m an amateur photographer). He didn’t seem to believe me so he told me to proceed to secondary inspection through another door.

The second door led to a waiting room that had six desks and room for about 50 people. There were around a dozen people waiting when I came in. I approached the first desk and was told to wait until my name was called. It is not a good feeling to know that your ability to make a scheduled flight is completely out of your control. I waited for about 20 minutes before my name was called and I got to speak one-on-one with a customs officer. He asked me how much I sold my photographs for. I reiterated that I was an amateur and do not sell my photos. His reply was “I know that you sell your photos. I’ve already looked at your website. This is not a commercial port and you will not be able to enter the United States here.” Um, what? So many thoughts raced through my head, but I remained calm and said once again that I am an amateur and don’t sell my photos. “But you’re Bob Blaney, right? I can see on your website that you sell your photos.” My legal name is Robert Kyle Blaney, but I eventually convinced the officer that I was actually Kyle and not Bob (who I learned is a professional nature photographer from Sudbury, Ontario) and I was on my way. Lessons learned! One - have proof of purchase of expensive gear with you when you cross the border. (Since this trip I have been to the Canada Border Services Agency office at CFB Trenton to fill out a Y38 form. It’s a free service where you file the serial numbers of your gear with Canada Customs so that they know when you re-enter Canada that you’re not trying to avoid paying duty. It was really easy and I recommend it.) Two - make sure you don’t get confused for someone with a similar name!

The de-icing process was another interesting experience. I’m a huge fan of the documentary series Mayday, which explains airplane disasters and what is done to ensure that similar accidents don’t happen again. (The reasons for airplane mishaps are often very similar to the reasons that large software projects fail, but that’s a story for another time and place!) One safety feature implemented as a result of the crash of Air Ontario flight 1363 is when and where de-icing occurs. They used to de-ice planes where people get on board, at the terminal. However, there were cases when a place was de-iced, then delayed on the runway prior to takeoff. The result was that ice built up on the plane as it waited to take off, making it too heavy and causing it to crash at the end of the runway. The lesson learned is that you need to de-ice a plane just prior to take off and that’s what I saw. The de-icing truck came out to our plane on the runway, hammered it with pink and purplish liquids and totally destroyed all the snow and ice on the airplane. I was in the emergency exit row right over the wing so I had a great seat. It was a good feeling to know that we probably weren’t going to crash due to a heavy aircraft.

The trip to San Franciso was uneventful and I got my luggage, picked up my rental car (a hybrid Hyandai Sonata… awesome!), and was on my way north towards Novato, California. I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (spectacular!) and got to my hotel in Novato. It was nearing dinner time, so I decided to check out the area around my hotel. It was very close to the interstate, but also had huge fields behind it that I hoped would yield some new bird species. I was not disappointed as the first bird I saw was a Say’s Phoebe, something not usually seen east of Manitoba.

Say’s Phoebe, Novato, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2000s @ f/8, ISO 800

There was also a flock of House Finches scurrying around the hotel property:

House Finch, Novato, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8, ISO 800

I was hoping to find more new species as I ventured away from the hotel for dinner. I found a great spot for birds behind the Taco Bell in Novato (obviously… even birds are smart enough to want to be near the sweet aroma emanating from a Taco Bell). There was a little island in a tiny body of water in the Napa-Sonoma Marshes and it was full of pelicans, geese, gadwalls, gulls, cormorants, and my favourite, black-necked stilts!

Black-necked Stilts, Novato, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8, ISO 800

The next day I headed over to Point Reyes National Seashore before sunrise and I was not disappointed. I liked this place so much that I returned two more times even though I only had four days in California. You can walk right on the San Andreas fault and see a fence that had one part separated from the other part by 16 feet during the 1989 earthquake! I spent much of my time wandering around near the Bear Valley Visitor Center, where many birds were easily seen:

Western Bluebird (female and male), Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/500s @ f/8, ISO 3200

Note that I found the bluebird early in the morning when there was very little light. Therefore, I had to crank up the ISO to 3200 to get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement of the bird.

Acorn Woodpecker, Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/400s @ f/8, ISO 800

White-crowned Sparrow, Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1600s @ f/8, ISO 800

Black Phoebe, Kule Loklo Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/125s @ f/8, ISO 800

Golden-crowned Sparrow, Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/250s @ f/8, ISO 800

I also added two new mammals to my life list, a Western Gray Squirrel and this little Black-tailed Jackrabbit:

Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Kule Loklo Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/500s @ f/8, ISO 800

There was also a strange white deer which I initially thought was an albino:

Fallow Deer, Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/400s @ f/5.6, ISO 3200

Note that as with the bluebird, I had to crank up the ISO to 3200 to get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement of the deer.

I have since learned that the individual is an introduced Fallow Deer and the park has made them not able to reproduce in the hopes that they are all “eliminated” by 2021.

After my first day at Point Reyes, it was on to the stars of the show… giant redwoods! I drove north on Highway 1 along the Pacific coast and it was gorgeous! I spent my second night in Fort Bragg and on the way there I stopped to take some pictures of the coastline:

Coastline from Highway 1 north of Fort Bragg, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 22mm, 0.8s @ f/16, ISO 100

I also stopped at Western Union State Park and was disappointed that it was obviously closed. I soon found out the reason for the closure:

Western Union State Park - Abalone Point, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 15mm, 1.0s @ f/16, ISO 100

After Fort Bragg, I continued north on Highway 101 and opted for the Avenue of the Giants. What an amazing road! Huge redwoods everywhere, some as wide as my car, often on both sides of the road at the same time. It was spectacular!

Avenue of the Giants - Franklin K. Lane Grove, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 10mm, 20s @ f/16, ISO 100

This shot is poor, but note that I used a shutter speed of twenty seconds. Can you believe twenty seconds for a daylight photograph? That’s what was needed to get the depth of field of f/16 at ISO 100 because the area in front of the tree is in extreme shade even in the middle of the day.

Richardson Grove State Park, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 10mm, 1/50s @ f/4.5, ISO 3200

Note that I had to change the ISO to 3200 and use an aperture of f/4.5 to get a shutter speed of 1/50 second that was suitable for freezing the action of my jump.

I eventually made my way to my northernmost stop, Eureka. I waited at the nearby public boat launch as my hotel room was cleaned and a flock of marbled godwits landed right in front of me. I was happy to see a single godwit earlier in the day so a whole flock was awesome!

Marbled Godwit, Eureka, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8, ISO 800

Marbled Godwit, Eureka, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2000s @ f/8, ISO 800

Marbled Godwit, Eureka, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/5000s @ f/8, ISO 800

The next day I started my southerly trip back to San Francisco. On the way, I stopped at Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It has a great walking trail through the marshland that yielded several new bird species including Cackling Goose and Orange-crowned Warbler. There were also many teals, buffleheads, coots, grebes, herons, egrets, swans, gulls, marsh wrens, and northern harriers.

Cackling Geese, Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1000s @ f/8, ISO 800

Northern Harrier, Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1600s @ f/8, ISO 800

I spent my last night in San Rafael and made one final stop at Bolinas Lagoon before catching my flight home. I finally found one of my target species - a long-billed curlew! There were a couple searching for food in the tidal flats and I watched as two gulls tried unsuccessfully to steal a meal from one:

Long-billed Curlew, Bolinas Lagoon, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/6400s @ f/8, ISO 800

Long-billed Curlew, Bolinas Lagoon, California, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8, ISO 800

Only a few days in California but I was impressed. I shall return!

Florida - Birds and a bobcat

I just returned from a short trip to Florida. It’s the second time I’ve been in a few years and I continue to be surprised by what it has to offer. It’s more than overcrowded theme parks and snowbird Canadians that hike their pants up to mid-chest and eat buffet dinners at 4:00. It’s full of parks, conservation areas, and white sand beaches that go on forever. All in all, a great recipe for nature photography! The highlight of my trip was seeing a bobcat, but alas, I did not get a photo.

Last time in Florida I stayed south of Orlando but this time I was invited to stay in a condo with friends of mine in St. Augustine Beach, about an hour south of Jacksonville on the Atlantic coast. The place was literally right on the ocean. You walked out the door and bam… beach. Thanks Brad & Andrea - you were great hosts!

St. Augustine Beach, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 10mm, 1.6s @ f/22, ISO 200

Upon arrival, I got right to work and scoured the shore for aptly-named shorebirds. There were willets, ruddy turnstones that seemed completely oblivious to humans, and sanderlings. I liked to watch the sanderlings as they fed at the ocean’s edge. They would feed right where the waves stop and when it looked a big wave would cover them, they would hurriedly scurry away from it. Their feet go a mile a minute!

Sanderling, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/8000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

If you’re ever in Florida and you like nature even a little bit, I strongly recommend that you visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge just east of Titusville. The Black Point Wildlife Drive is magnificent! It’s a one-way road through perfect bird habitat that’s about seven miles long with stops along the way. There are so many herons, egrets, ducks, gulls, terns, spoonbills, and other birds that Brad and I took 4.5 hours to drive it.

Reddish Egret, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

There’s lot of other cool stuff on the road in addition to birds.

Queen Butterfly, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

American Alligator, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/400s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

The goal of any trip to Florida is obviously to see Florida Scrub-Jays. That’s what you were thinking, right? Or maybe you’re not quite as much of a nature geek as me? That’s okay, you’re still welcome here. Florida Scrub-Jay is a unique bird species that exists only in central Florida’s scrub habitat. In fact, it’s the only bird species that exists only in Florida. Technically speaking, it’s endemic to Florida. (I admit it. I didn’t know that beforehand, but Wikipedia can make even a birding neophyte like me appear somewhat knowledgeable.) Brad and I did not see a scrub jay on our trip through Merritt Island, so I returned alone a couple of days later to try again.

I saw what I thought was a scrub jay beside the highway in Merritt Island, but it turned out to be a mockingbird (interestingly, with a foot deformity).

Northern Mockingbird, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

Thanks to eBird, I finally found several scrub jays at the south entrance to Canavarel National Seashore. I watched them move around for about an hour, landing in trees and bracing themselves against the wind. Note the bands on this one.

Florida Scrub-Jay, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/800s @ f/8.0, ISO 400

Being further north than my last visit to Florida, I ventured into a few new parks. I saw a tufted titmouse and some butterflies at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.

Zebra Longwing, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/500s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

I spent quite a while at North Peninsula State Park, a park with more than three kilometres of unspoiled beach. I bet a talented birder could sit down there and see a ton of species without even moving!

Snowy Egret, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/5000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

Osprey, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/6400s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

Black-bellied Plover, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1250s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

On my final day in Florida, we all headed to Vaill Point Park in St. Augustine. Brad and I checked out the nearby woods and stumbled upon this beauty.

Great Horned Owl, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/320s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

It was less than a week, but thank you Florida!

Amazing British Columbia

It’s hard to put my recent trip to British Columbia into words. I could say that it was a trip of a lifetime, that it reinforced in me a great pride in Canada and its wilderness, that it was the most memorable vacation I’ve ever been on, or that it proved how lucky I am to be able to experience the things I did and meet the people I met (thanks Tom, Barrett, Pitt, Vanessa, Don, Jeanne, Jan, Bev, Lois, and Nicci!). All are true, but they just don’t seem to fully capture it. Suffice it to say, British Columbia’s coast is spectacular!

The focus of my vacation was a trip on the Ocean Light II, starting in Shearwater and ending in Hartley Bay and travelling through the Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia’s northwest coast. The trip was my first to BC, so I spent time beforehand in Pemberton and afterwards in Prince Rupert.

Pemberton

Pemberton was about a two-hour drive north from the Vancouver airport along the Sea to Sky highway. The drive was highlighted by some great vistas with views of the ocean and mountains.

I knew I would like Pemberton the moment I arrived. It is a small town nestled in the mountains, with many nearby nature destinations. Within 24 hours of my arrival, I had seen three separate black bears, hiked into glacial Lower Joffre Lake, and watched a gorgeous sunset on Pemberton Meadows Road. That doesn’t even count the family of raccoons I saw enjoying a nutritious garbage lunch in Vancouver’s Stanley Park!

Pemberton Meadows Road, Canon 7D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 22mm, 1/40s @ f/8.0, ISO 400

The only downside of Pemberton was that I was there prior to my trip through the rainforest. I was looking forward to it so much that I was very hesitant to do anything the least bit risky. I went on a few hikes, but I was so careful with my footing that I probably looked even more like a frail senior citizen than I usually do. My timidity resulted in me starting the Great Bear Rainforest trip in 100% health.

Shearwater

There are a few obstacles to the Great Bear Rainforest trip. Firstly, you have to book well in advance because space is limited and it’s a very popular trip (helped I’m sure by the word-of-mouth advertising that clients like me provide… I can’t stop thinking or talking about the darn thing!). Secondly, you have to get yourself to the trip’s starting point. My trip was south-to-north, starting in Shearwater and ending in Hartley Bay. Neither is reachable by car. You can either take a long ferry ride or fly in. I chose the latter, booking a flight with Pacific Coastal Airlines on a 30-seater Saab 340 aircraft from Vancouver to Bella Bella.

The flight included a stop in Port Hardy and I was informed prior to takeoff that there was so much fog in Bella Bella that the final leg of the flight might be delayed. Oh no! Thankfully, the fog lifted after a brief stay in the Port Hardy airport and we were on our way to Bella Bella. There are no places to stay in Bella Bella, so I had to take a taxi from the airport to the dock and catch a water taxi to Shearwater. Finally, I was where I needed to be to get to the Great Bear Rainforest!

I explored Shearwater with my camera, hoping to see some west coast bird species that I had never seen before and possibly even get some photos of them. I wasn’t disappointed when I got to the abandoned fish plant - a flock of black turnstones with a few surfbirds mixed in for good measure! I thought that all of the birds were turnstones and didn’t realize until I got home that some of the individuals were surfbirds (identified by the black and orange on their bill; turnstones have bills that are solidly black).

Black Turnstone & Surfbird, Shearwater, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/2500s @ f/8.0, ISO 400

Great Bear Rainforest

The day the boat trip started was very exciting. I met the other people that were to share in my experiences, got assigned my bunk (as the only single guy on the trip, I got lucky and was assigned the largest bed and didn’t have to share my room), and we were on our way! The first few hours were spent enjoying the scenery as we travelled to our first destination.

In the evening, we got to a protected inlet, put down anchor and headed out in the Zodiac in search of bears. In no time flat, we saw a momma grizzly with her cub.

Grizzly Bear, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1600s @ f/8.0, ISO 400

Grizzly Bear cub, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/640s @ f/8.0, ISO 400

As we watched and photographed the first two grizzlies, a male appeared behind us. We got to watch and listen as it took a large salmon on shore, ripped its skin off to eat it first, and then bit into the head. You could hear the bones being crushed! It was awe-inspiring and a sign of things to come. This was only the first day of the trip and none of us knew of the even more amazing things in store for us.

We went back to the same place the following morning, saw three grizzlies (presumably the same ones as the day before), took up anchor, and headed for our next destination. The next few days were spent cruising up the coast, seeing the occasional humpback whale, getting up close with some waterfalls, taking in the majestic wilderness, and searching for wildlife. We eventually arrived at the Great Bear Rainforest, ready to search for Kermode Bears (also called Spirit Bears), a subspecies of the American Black Bear that has a whitish coat due to recessive genes (even though they are not albinos).

Our trip leader, Tom, spotted a Kermode Bear in the river on our first hike in. How lucky am I? My stretch of luck reached even higher proportions over the next couple of days as we got to observe Kermode Bears each day. It was so incredible to be able to see an animal that may have fewer than 1000 individuals, and it made me especially proud to do so in Canada. What a great country we have!

Kermode Bear, Canon 7D with Canon EF 28-300mm @ 300mm, 1/1000s @ f/7.1, ISO 1600

We even got to watch as the bears hunted for salmon, each with its own technique. I was really just in awe of the whole situation. I would have been happy to catch a glimpse of a Kermode Bear, but to be able to watch them up close, photograph them, and take videos while in their home was simply more than I could ever have wished for. It was truly a humbling experience.

Kermode Bear, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

Kermode Bear, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/640s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

At times my most pressing issue was deciding whether to take photographs or videos. It was incredible!

We even got to see a Kermode Bear in the river at the same time as a “regular” American Black Bear. (I say regular, but that’s not really fair. Black bears are special in their own right, but, c’mon, we were looking at Spirit Bears!) Alas, there were no struggles between the two. It was as if they had already decided to just leave each other alone. There’s no need to fight other bears when there’s enough salmon to go around I guess.

Kermode Bear & American Black Bear, Canon 7D with Canon EF 28-300mm @ 70mm, 1/1000s @ f/6.3, ISO 1600

On the final portion of our trip, we continued north towards Hartley Bay. We had seen a few humpback whales earlier in the week, but nothing like we saw this time. A humpback breached right in front of us many times. Yes, you heard me correctly! A gigantic whale actually jumped completely out of the water, over and over again. If the bears were memorable, this was downright heaven!

Humpback Whale, Canon 7D with Canon EF 28-300mm @ 70mm, 1/1000s @ f/8.0, ISO 800

Humpback Whale, Canon 7D with Canon EF 28-300mm @ 180mm, 1/2000s @ f/8.0, ISO 1600

I don’t want to peak too early in life, but it will be hard to top September 11, 2012 in my personal history books. Kermode and black bears in the morning and a breaching humpback in the afternoon. Wow!

After the whale show, we got to Hartley Bay, docked for our final night on the boat and packed for the float plane ride the following morning. I had never been on a float plane before, but it was a piece of cake. The landing in Prince Rupert was so soft that the only sign of landing was the sight of the splashes. We said our goodbyes and ended the most amazing tour I could possibly imagine. This one was a life changer!

Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert was a time to decompress and wring as much as I could from coastal BC. I hiked with a couple of other stragglers from the boat trip in a nearby park, searched for birds to photograph, and drove up to Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park.

Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park, Canon 7D with Canon EF 28-300mm @ 28mm, 1/160s @ f/14, ISO 800

The travel day home was a long one. I had to return my rental car in Prince Rupert, ride on an Air Canada bus on a ferry to the Prince Rupert airport, fly on Air Canada to Vancouver, fly on WestJet to Toronto, call for the hotel shuttle to take me to my parking spot, and drive back to Belleville. Whew!

I had a fantastic time in British Columbia and I can’t wait to go back!

Best Photography Gear: Travel!

There is lots of discussion about the best photography gear. This year, I spent less of my hard-earned money on gear and more on learning how to use it and getting to interesting places to use it. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

Aside from my usual and frequent jaunts to local nature spots, I went on three trips this year where I focused heavily on photography (pun intended):

• Moose photography by boat with Michael Bertelson
• boat trip up the coast of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest with Ocean Light Adventures
• Bruce Peninsula landscape photography with Ethan Meleg

All were terrific and I strongly recommend them. I’ll be writing much more about my BC trip soon.

Napanee Springside Park and Amherstview Sewage Lagoon

What did you do today? I crawled under a barbed wire fence to get into a sewage lagoon. I bet you can’t beat that!

My friend Brad and I went out right in the middle of the afternoon to try our luck at nature photography in the Greater Napanee area. We were partly trying to get images to enter in the Napanee Photo Contest, but we were also just looking for something to do on a lazy summer afternoon in which it didn’t look like Tiger Woods would be competing for the PGA Championship.

We started at Napanee’s Springside Park and I was immediately surprised at the number of birds present. They were mostly Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls, but there was also a Common Merganser that preened virtually nonstop on a rock. It barely took its bill out of its wings long enough for a few portraits.

Common Merganser - Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/5000s @ f/8, ISO 400

There were also a few juvenile Wood Ducks and let me just say that I love Wood Ducks, not in a Carrie Underwood kind of way (that’s not how I roll), but still, they’re spectacular! We were hoping to see an adult male in full plumage, but the juveniles were still stunning:

Wood Duck - Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/100s @ f/8, ISO 400

Wood Duck - Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/640s @ f/8, ISO 400

Note the slow shutter speed of 1/100s on the first shot. A tripod was essential in order to get a sharp photo at that speed with a 500mm lens.

Brad also spotted a green heron along the shoreline and even when you knew where it was, it was still hard to see.

Green Heron, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/4000s @ f/8, ISO 800

In addition to the birds, I also lucked into a Widow Skimmer that happened to land in one of the only locations that would have resulted in a decent photo:

Widow Skimmer, Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/1600s @ f/8, ISO 800

After the park, we opted to leave the Greater Napanee area and do what every good Canadian should do on a Sunday afternoon. We headed for a sewage lagoon! We struggled to find the Amherstview sewage lagoon and even stumbled onto Parrott’s Bay Conservation Area en route. We walked through the conservation area and we’ll probably head there again, but we had sewage lagoons to get to so our stay was brief.

It’s a short walk to the sewage lagoons and all that separates you from the sweet discharge areas of the water treatment plant is a barbed wire fence. Thankfully, someone had already pulled up the fence, so we just walked underneath it and got to the lagoons. There were birds everywhere! There was a large flock of gulls (mostly Bonaparte’s Gulls with some Ring-billed Gulls), Caspian Terns, shorebirds that we couldn’t identify given our limited abilities, ducks, and swallows.

The most exciting event was when we heard a strange bird song from very close by. It turned out that I must have hit the play button on the iBird app on my iPhone by mistake because my pants were emanating the song of an Audubon’s Oriole. Alas, my pants were not able to conjure up an actual Audubon’s Oriole and I hit the mute button to avoid future confusion.

However, I did get some shots of a Lesser Yellowlegs that was in perfect light:

Lesser Yellowlegs - Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/3200s @ f/8, ISO 800

Lesser Yellowlegs - Canon 7D with Canon EF 500mm, 1/5000s @ f/8, ISO 800

All in all, it was a great afternoon of photography and not very far from home. Thanks Brad!