Patients, it pays off

Greater Yellowlegs

I was out shooting yesterday at my favorite location, and I had an encounter with sometime I often struggle with, patients! I arrived around 11:30AM, which meant that the birds would not be overly active. It was a cool morning, with some clouds, but as the day went on it warmed up and I started taking time to stop out of the heat in a few bird blinds. While resting in one I noticed fish in the water, something I'd not seen in the area before, so I was distracted. While I was watching the fish a Heron (possible Green Heron), which was just out of my field of vision took off and flew by, of course I missed the opportunity, because by the time I was set up it was too far away. Other than that one Heron I was surprised to find even less activity than I had expected. For the first two hours I was at the bird sanctuary I did not take a single photo, which was a little disappointing. Some migratory birds have started to arrive, including some American Coots, but the light wasn't right in the location so I didn't photograph them. I also missed some Marsh Wren's and a Belted Kingfisher, the latter of which flew past me several times.

I was packing up to head home, and then I decided to stick around for a few more hours, simple because I didn't have anything else pressing that I needed to do, and because I wanted to come out of the trip with at least a few shots! So I decided to head back around the main trail on the odd chance that this time I might find something interesting. My second walk around was far more interesting, from a photographic perspective, than the first. I left with over a 100 shots, which I consider to be a reasonably good day. I noted that because, even when shooting birds I only take a few bursts of one subject simply because I no longer feel the need to fill my memory cards each time I go out! In any case, I was able to get shots of a Great Blue Heron in flight, although the background was just blue sky, which didn't lead to the best results along with numerous shots of Greater Yellowlegs (Sandpipers). They had flown into the area sometime between my two walks around in the early afternoon. I also got some good photos of some Sparrows and Finches. Lesson learned, when you think you are done, do it again because you might end up with something better than the first time around!