Bird of the week

Ducks in Flight – 2011

There is nothing like a job to cut into your photography excursions. Not that I am complaining. After ten plus years of being self-employed, I am now working for someone else. It is a little different, but a regular income is better than an irregular one.

It will take some getting used to. For example my old boss was extremely flexible with the hours that I kept, allowing me to go out birding and taking photos nearly whenever I wanted to.

Anyway, I bring all of this up to explain why there hasn’t been a bird of the week or even a post here for the last month. I have been a little busy, applying for, interviewing for, and ultimately getting and starting a new job.

I did get out to Moss Landing last week and the waterfowl are still migrating through. There are large flocks of peeps (tiny shorebirds) in the wetlands south of highway 1, where there is no place to stop and look at them safely.

Fortunately, there were some smaller groups of peeps amongst the bigger birds at Moss Landing State Beach. This allowed me to capture the latest bird of the week (month) photo:

Semipalmated Plovers and Western Sandpipers – 2011

Forster’s Tern, 2011

As difficult as last weeks selection was, this one was easy. I went out to Moss Landing with hope of shooting some terns. Both Caspian and Forster’s Terns are in the area and I saw a number of Caspians in the distance when I was there last week.

My hopes of getting a closer shot were dashed by construction which closed most of Moss Landing State Beach. So I had to shoot across the harbor to the jetty were the terns were hanging out. Fortunately, there were some Forster’s Terns in the air and I got a few shots.

With the State Beach closed, I crossed the highway and checked out the Moss Landing Wildlife Area. The Wildlife area sits behind a boat repair shop. It is the sort of unpretentious setting that appeals to me. There is a viewing platform a little over 0.2 miles from the parking lot. Once there I spotted a Least Sandpiper, some Caspian Terns fishing out on the Slough and a large collection of young Brown Pelicans about a quarter of a mile away.

On my way back one of them flew by allowing me to shoot this weeks Bird of the Week:

Young Brown Pelican, Moss Landing Wildlife Area – 2011

Tom Clifton Photography

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