Another Trip to the Lake with Dan (20130706)

Dan and I hit Frank Lake Back in March 2012, and had terrible conditions. Today was a little better, no snow, or rain:)  The sky was full of heavy cloud, and the light conditions were brutal. We set up the blind on a mud flat hoping to get some up close shots of shorebirds and maybe even an Ibis or Black Crowned Night Heron. There were Willets and Kiilldeer running around. Our fist "visitor" was this Great Blue Heron (6:40 a.m.).

The advantages of spending so much time with these birds, like anything else really, is that you get to see some poses and behaviours that you don't get with just a small glimpse of time typically.

While we were there we spotted a couple of Sora's, one of my favourite birds because of their secretive nature, it is not often you get to see them out in the open on the mudflats.

A little while later we were treated to another Sora sight, it was a pair of Sora's, the male obviously chasing the female around on the flats. They were a long way off and moving pretty quick, so no publishable images.
Spotted Sandpipers would bounce in and out of the area.

There were Phalaropes buzzing by and occasionally one or two would "pop in" for a visit.

Another visitor was this Lesser Yellowlegs, my first of the year.

We had one Ibis drop in for a couple of minutes, and there were a few flying around, but nothing came in to where we could get a decent shot.  After leaving the blind we took a short walk and Dan managed two new birds (that I didn't get as we split up, I think they were the Grasshopper and Lincolns) and I was fortunate to get this shot of an immature GHO. I have lightened this up a bit so you can get an idea of how bad the light conditions were.

I wrap up this portion of our day and this post here, on a pretty high note. It would have been nice to have some better light, but you take what you can get. I will follow this post up with a supplemental as we found some good stuff on our drive home. Have a terrific Wildlife day!
Turbo