Shorebirds

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Sandy Shorebill

December 1, 2010 Birds

At this point in my California life, I’d be chugging caffeine before the sun comes up, and getting to my favorite shorebird sanctuaries and mudflats as the light turns magenta rose …

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Parenting, Avocet Style

June 23, 2010 Baby Animals

American Avocet = Recurvirostra americana These images of American Avocets were shot over the past two nesting seasons. I’m particularly careful when photographing nesting birds or young, and will not intrude if my presence causes any disturbance or danger. Most of these photos were captured at Palo Alto Baylands, from a public pathway. The burnt [...]

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Shorebird Nation Rises Again

October 22, 2009 Animal Behavior

Ever since I picked up a telephoto lens and aimed it at my first non-human earthling, my seasons have morphed into migration schedules. Winter = Ducks. Spring= Babies. Fall (best time of all) = Shorebirds. I used to be an urban-girl-night-person — before I knew what I was. Autumn was: early darkness, early cocktails. (Okay, [...]

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Seeing the Sora

September 28, 2009 Bay Area

You’ll hear Soras more often than you’ll see them. But once in a while you’ll be lucky enough to experience both — when the characteristic Sora call precedes a visual of the Sora wading through the shallows. Soras are in the rail family, not rare, even if they are elusive. They share a lineage with [...]

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Wildlife & Nature Photography Ethics

May 7, 2009 Ethics

“Responsible wildlife photographers observe a strict code of ethics. The cardinal rule: if anything you do directly or indirectly endangers, restricts or harasses an animal, stop and leave the animal alone. The integrity of a wildlife photograph evaporates if the subject was not free to come and go, if it shows fear or anxiousness, if [...]

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More Alameda Terns: Caspian, Forster’s, Least Terns

May 5, 2009 Bay Area

Take a look at this image of terns — not because it’s anything spectacular. In fact, those terns were but specks on my visual horizon, so this is a dramatic crop to show just one thing: the size differential between the Caspian Terns and the Forster’s Terns I wrote about in a previous post. The [...]

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Baylands Babies

April 25, 2009 Baby Animals

Photos of American Avocet chicks and parents, as well as Canada Geese and goslings at Palo Alto Baylands – San Francisco Bay, California.

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Tagging the Endangered Clapper Rail

January 13, 2009 Endangered Species

Through 1915, the California Clapper Rail was a menu delicacy. The bird was hunted to near extinction (a sad but common fate for Bay Area and U.S. species).

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A Quiet Nation of Shorebirds – San Francisco Bay Area

December 7, 2008 Shorebirds

I try to stop by Arrowhead Marsh when I’m in the vicinity of Oakland Airport . . . which is quite a lot, considering I’m with a guy who, essentially, commutes to work by plane. It’s my consolation in solitude to stroll through the marshes with my camera after I bid farewell to Southwest or [...]

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