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I returned later in the afternoon with the 5DIII + 500L + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod. Bigger is not necessarily better as the sun was out and the heat waves rising off the mudflats created a lot of distortion.
A female (right) joined the male (left).
Female in flight.
I returned in the evening shortly before sundown. The marsh had filled up with water and the distortion was less.
The male hung out with both starlings and red-winged blackbirds throughout out the day.
One of the red-wings tried to chase off the yellow-head, but it stood its ground and turned the tables.
The second surprise of the day was a spotted sandpiper, only the second one I have ever seen at the marsh. These photos were taken with the 5DIII + 500L + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod when the sun was out. The heat waves rising off the mudflats created a lot of distortion.
My photos could be called ID shots at best.
The male yellow-headed blackbird was in the foreground.
Two gulls were engaged in a skirmish. I think it was a juvie still trying to beg food from its mother, which was clearly not interested in feeding junior.
I am lucky if I see a single rufous hummingbird a year. A friend told me he had seen two along the Pt. Edwards walkway, so Saturday (6/6) Daren and I set out in search of one. We saw two, although I think I only photographed one of them, a female.
Last August Daren and I caught a glimpse of a deer peering through the bushes at the end of the walkway. I could tell from the matted grass that the deer were jumping the fence to drink at the retention pond. I have heard from others that this year there are as many as four or five deer in the area.
After photographing the hummer, we continued walking west past the retention pond. I saw a young buck standing in the cool shade. He posed for us, then retreated back into the bushes to hide.
Down at the fish hatchery we saw a small garter snake sunning itself.
One of Rocky's chestnut-backed chickadees looked as though it had just finished bathing in Willow Creek. It was drying off and grooming itself in the bushes near the head of the driveway which leads down to the fish hatchery.
The last stop of the day was the marsh.
A pair of cedar waxwings took over Wesley's tree near the #1 viewing platform. I was only able to get some back lit silhouettes.
A marsh wren (Marshal?) chattering for a mate.
This gull made several trips between the railroad tracks and a building at Harbor Square, where it is probably making a nest on the roof.
What looked to me like a swallow was trying to perch on the side of a building at Harbor Square. There were droppings on the side of the wall that looked like other birds had tried to do the same. I have been unable to find any swallow in Sibley's which has those distinctive white markings on the back of its wings.
Studying the photos more carefully, I think it is a just female house sparrow. I would delete this post, but I cannot find that option on the edit page.
Monday afternoon (6/8) Daren and I along with local photographer Michael returned to the Pt. Edwards walkway. Several hummers were chasing each other around the west end of the walkway opposite the retention pond where they feed from the flowers of bushes in bloom. The action was fast and furious with birds sometimes flying between us. We could not get any photos of the miniature aerial dogfights as the hummers are just too quick.
I did get some nice back lit silhouette shots of a female Anna's.
The action was less hectic at the east end of the walkway near the condo maintenance office, where I got some shots of a female Anna's feeding.
The crows at the marsh were agitated for much of Tuesday evening (6/9). A Pt. Edwards eagle swooping in to take out one of their number caused a stir, but there was a continuing commotion coming from the Unocal grounds south of Willow Creek, which forms the southern border of the marsh.
After a while the source of the crows' consternation emerged from the foliage; the resident coyote was on patrol. In the past I have only seen the coyote about once a year, but this marks the fourth or fifth time I have seen it in 2015.
The coyote would pause to eat some vegetation.
The mud glistened off its legs after it waded through some of the wetter portions of the marsh.
Creeping shadows and a low sun angle created lighting issues. I had to shoot at -1 exposure compensation when the setting sun reflected off the coyote's coat......
then dial the exposure compensation back to 0 when it walked into the ever increasing shadows.
The coyote did not mind getting its legs dirty as it crossed a tidal waterway and waded through mud.
It scared up some ducks as it jumped over a low grassy mound, but did not pursue them.
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