 |
| Elegant Terns, Ocean Beach |
Some days I do more work in retirement than I did when I had a job. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
As someone who likes a structured day, I still get out of bed at 6 a.m. (when my wife's alarm goes off) and knock out my exercise routine in the living room while listening to NPR. Then it's coffee and a breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins, chocolate chips, chia seeds, flax meal, walnuts, and coconut flakes. Kiss my wife good-bye, check email, read the news, brush my teeth, head out for a walk and a bike ride, lunch, shower, relax.
If I did any photography, I'll process the images, upload a few to iNaturalist, and post a blog entry. Before I know it, it's 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Nice work if you can get it.
I saw a group of Elegant Terns on the beach yesterday when I was riding the length of Sunset Dunes Park. They were gathered at the edge of a pool of water left by a recent high tide. I thought about going back with my camera later in the day, but I conked out on the couch while reading an ebook, only to be awakened by jackhammers on the street in front of our flat.
I was too tired to bike back down to the beach, and I couldn't get the car out of the garage with all the road work going on, so I figured I'd bike down there first thing this morning instead of doing my usual walk.
But morning came and I really wanted to start out with my usual walk, so I did that first. By the time I rode down to the beach with my camera, there wasn't a tern in sight.
I was thinking about where to go next when I noticed the surf was pretty big, and then I saw a large flock of Sanderlings wheel through the air and land on the beach right in front of me. When I locked my bike and walked down to the water's edge I noticed several elegant terns hanging out down there, and more showed up as the morning progressed.
 |
| Elegant Terns & Sanderlings |
 |
| Industrial Waters |
 |
| On the Run |
 |
| Elegant Tern |
 |
| The frame-filling flocks reminded me of geese up in the Klamath Basin. |
 |
| Sanderlings don't make as much noise as geese, though. |
 |
| Fancy Feathers |
 |
| Night-Night |
 |
| I don't know why, but I like to have a container ship in the background when I'm shooting at Ocean Beach. |
 |
| Terns eventually bathed where I saw them yesterday, at the high tide pool halfway up the beach. |
 |
| Just across the pool, little sanderlings had their own bathing area. |
 |
| Even in death, the adult gull feeds the immature gull.... |
 |
| A raven tried to get in on the action but was rebuffed by the gull. |
 |
| Dogs were the main reason I have so many shots of birds in the air. |
 |
| Although this dog didn't seem to come close to actually catching anything, a golden retriever appeared to come very close to snagging a raven. |
 |
| Follow the Leader |
 |
| Flock On Alert and Getting Ansty as Dog Approaches |
 |
| It was a great day to hang out at the beach. |
 |
| Sanderlings in Blue |
 |
| Sea Rocket |
* * *
Posts
