Avocets, Pelicans, Yellowlegs (20130804) An amazing morning in the blind.

After much debate about our destination for Sunday, Jamie and I decided to take the blind out of Frank Lake where Dan and I had found the Black Bellied Plover. My phone rang at 4:10 and 4:35 we were on the road. Arriving at 5:10 anticipation was high, it was looking like a GREAT sunrise.  We packed in and were set up in minimal light. As we settled in we could see a lot of birds around and were anxious for the light to come and the morning fog to go. This young Pelican came in a did a cruise around. 6:20 a.m.

Unlike the visit of a couple of weeks ago, the birds were far more at ease with the blind and as a result we had birds coming in much closer.  This is a Wilson's Phalarope @ 6:23 in heavy shade.

Here is another juvenile Pelican, I caught it just as it was leaning into taking off, I like how the water at the legs shows no movement.

I probably took about 250 images of Avocets today, the water reflection was great even early in the morning. I like this wing and leg stretch shot, the body of the bird is backgrounded by the vegetation on the water whereas the reflection is in mostly 
undisturbed water.

Here is a shot of the other side being stretched.

This little sparrow "popped in" and provided a opportunity. Taken just before 7:00 a.m. you can see the length of its shadow.

Here is a shot of one of the many Yellowlegs that were wandering around.

Here is a shot of a pair of Yellowlegs.

There were a pair of Canada Geese that wandered in, they spent some time preening and washing, so I waited for the wing stretch:)

I thought that I would throw one more Avocet shot in, I like the reflection. I like how this shows off the blue legs of the bird, and the catch of the water drop off the beak and the fact it is caught in the reflection.

Here it is 7:30 and I've already posted 10 shots from about 25% of the shots I took. This will likely turn into 3 or four posts as we had a lot of activity:)  Stay tuned for another post, maybe tonight.
Turbo