Feathers & Rain

 

Allen's Hummingbird Near Elk Glen Lake

The rain came earlier than expected today, but it's been very light so far. At least I was able to get out and photograph a few birds -- a Nuttall's woodpecker, the Allen's hummingbird above (and below), orange-crowned warblers, a Say's phoebe, and the first willets I've seen on Ocean Beach in a good while.

I wondered if the Nuttall's woodpecker just liked the sound of its pecking as it drilled in euphonious "burst mode" on a telephone pole along the Sunset Parkway.

I somehow clicked past "burst mode" on my camera and ended up in 4K mode. I'd press the shutter and get a one-second MP4 file. I've been having issues with my camera lately and thought that's where the problem was, so it took a while to figure out what was actually going wrong. Anyway, I was able to save a "capture frame" from the brief video file; however, the frame was a JPEG and couldn't be run through the denoise program. Hence the grainy look.

Grainy, but still acceptable. And speaking of grain, I often shoot the equivalent of five 36-exposure rolls of film on my daily outings -- a film expense I could never have justified back in the day.

Also, getting a shot like this with Fuji Velvia at ISO 50 with a compact camera  would have been impossible.

While I was waiting for hummingbirds, a couple of orange-crowned warblers played through.

This one even showed its orange crown.

I've only seen the Say's phoebe at Balboa Natural Area once so far this winter, and it was hunting mid-way up the hill, too far away to photograph. I saw this one today on the way home from my walk.

Say's Phoebe, Grandview Park

I never believe it's really going to rain until it actually does, but I had to admit that the sky looked pretty convincing late this morning.

A small flock of willets was foraging on the beach just south of the Cliff House.

It's not uncommon to see a boogie-boarder out at Ocean Beach, but what was very unusual was seeing a skim-boarder working the shorebreak.

I began to feel the first light raindrops after snapping this photo at around 11:30 a.m.

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