nothing like a four-day weekend to try and photograph everything in sight...
let's start with friday, about noon:

the blue angels were in town, and while they don't flap their wings, i was
still out there enjoying the atmosphere and daredevil acrobatics... and,
while i thought the show wasn't up to the last two years, it still provided
a few photographic memories...

friday evening: arrived at ocean shores, and wandered out to the jetty for
a quick fix before the fog rolled in. caspian terns and brown pelicans were
everywhere. i can honestly say i've never seen so many pelicans in one
place and so active... later at the state park, i joined tim boyer for the
shorebird photofest.

what was seen: surfbirds, ruddy turnstones, black turnstones, wandering
tattlers (what a name... does anyone know where it comes from?),
semipalmated plovers (only one), heermann's and hybrid / juvenile gulls
(with black wing-tips :), western and least sandpipers, killdeer, great blue
herons, savannah (numerous at the sewage treatment ponds) and white-crowned
sparrows (also at STP, and molting), and cormorants (pelagic and
double-crested)...

among the more fascinating: common murres, on the shore at the eastern edge
of the STP, along with two (count em'!) red-breasted mergansers... a single
short-billed dowitcher was also in evidence for exactly one photo, as was a
turkey vulture (the only raptor seen)...

other notes: a 4.5 hour trip from seattle, given that 405 was jammed due to
an accident that closed and detoured the highway for hours, and interstate 5
was a parking lot from downtown seattle to nisqually... the temperature in
downtown when i left? somewhere in the 80s... the temp in hoquiam?
mid-70s... the temp at ocean city state park? 60 and falling fast... the
sun just wasn't a happy camper, and though i brought zero clothing
appropriate for the weather, i have to admit i didn't mind given the
plethora of avian flyby's... tim and i were able to approach within 20-30
feet of many of our targets, including every one of the peeps and the
murre...

the Blue Angels and Photos of the Month galleries have been updated, and
Birds is within 30 minutes (349 images, 191 species and counting) of being
complete...

oh, and we have a new "Who is This?" gallery... nine images for you to test
your (mostly) shorebird skills... i'm pretty sure i know 4 of them, so i'll
be watching to see how many i get right... :)

as always, if anyone sees a mistake (or problem) on the website, i would
appreciate hearing about it... i'm still learning, and enjoying every
minute... i hope you enjoy the photos!

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.org


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