of birds and sunsets

Ah what a gorgeous sunset last night. I'm lucky to have a beach that takes quite a strenuous hike to get to. That’s great for two reasons: my nearly daily hikes down to the beach keep me fit, and when I get there, I’m nearly always alone. This evening the reflection on the water was amazing.



I followed this Great Egret (Ardea alba) back and forth along the sand trying to get the sun in just the right place to illuminate the sand but not over expose the photograph. In addition, of course, I had to see that the bird was correctly exposed. He was a bit nervous at first, but shortly went back to his job of catching a meal, and allowed me to get this photo.

On the other hand this much smaller bird, a Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), didn’t really like me photographing him at all, so I just grabbed this one photo and left him to his dinner. Kind of know how he felt. The photo's a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea I think. We were the only three animals on the beach that night.