The other day we went out to the Asilomar Shore along Monterey Bay in Pacific Grove and found a particularly productive section of beach at high tide. The birds were working the waters edge which was washing far up onto the beach and dried kelp.
We have been watching Black-bellied Plovers in this ares for several weeks and we find now that they have almost completely finished their late Summer molt. Here we see one of many on the shore, this one in fine winter plumage.
Also in this same stretch of beach we saw two Willets among the other birds.
A solitary Whimbrel was nearby. This one stayed in the area the longest.
There were many Black Turnstones on the beach often very close to the Willets. This one was quite far away and this shot is cropped more than some of the others.
There was one Killdeer right at the waters edge but this one was moving fast (as was the surf) so we only got this compromised shot. We have seen many Killdeers in this general location throughout the summer and fall.
Finally, we saw a solitary Sanderling among the other busy birds.
All these shots were taken with a Nikon D7000, a Nikon 300mm f4 lens with a 2x Teleconverter. We have found that his equipment delivers pretty good image quality while still auto focusing well when there is good light. This day the sun was quite strong.
Very fine photos and information. I use a Nikon 200-400, and while it is often used for landscapes, I find it is fabulous for anything. I use it mostly for flowers. However, you cannot add a teleconverter to it. Some pros say the 200-400 on the D3x is the best combination for landscape and other photography. Anyway, I just add this for anyone looking for cameras. I recommend reading and comparing. I've shared this excellent blog with all my friends and have followed it. Thanks for making it available and I look forward to reading it in the future.
ReplyDelete