The bird shown in the photo is a Clark's Grebe that was hanging out below the Imperial Beach Pier ducking the occasional wave. Occasionally, he would do a blazingly fast dive down below the waves as he dove for fish. It was fast enough that all I saw was a blur; however, one of the photos caught him in the act as he arched up above the surface and literally speared into the water head first.
I have to admit that I am having fun with the new camera. I snapped some 300 bird pictures on Sunday (enough to keep our readersl in birds all year long). The amazing thing to me is that I very frequently find details in the photos that were not apparent to the naked eye in the fleeting moments that the subjects flew by. For example, I captured 5 pictures of a large formation of what looked like slow flying, lumbering brown seagulls. I was tempted to not take the pictures since brown seagulls are nothing to write home about. However, when I looked at the picture, I realized that they were actually a huge V formation of Curlews, long legged wading birds with narrow curved beaks that range all the way up to Alaska. Similarly, in a formation of seagulls and pelicans, I found at the very front of the formation, an endagered Least Tern leading the formation. With the Grebe, the camera froze his dive going into and also under the water, something that was too fast for the naked eye. It's fun in a crazy, youthful, seeing the world all anew kind of way. It's also given me a new appreciation for California wildlife at a time when I was tempted to be totally down on the California crowds and traffic. I think my camera and I will be back at the wildlife refuge for more pictures and I may just cave in and join a birding group. Besides, with digital cameras, the "developing" is free (although I may run out of disc space soon at this rate). Good, cheap, clean fun. Stay tuned.
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