Bair Island Birds

     Photos from this post were taken at Bair Island Wildlife Refuge and Trail. I was there for less than an hour and left with 750 photos. I do take way too many photos normally so even for me that number is pretty high. Before I made my way into the park there were birds everywhere. A neighbor from across the street yelled at me to watch for large flocks of white pelicans. He said they flew by earlier and were staying in the flats. Unfortunately I didn't see any of them on this outing. All of the photos were taken in Manual mode. I don't usually use manual because you have to choose all of the settings and I was thinking it would have been better to only worry about one at a time. However my first few photos in Aperture mode and Shutter priority mode both gave me photos that I wasn't super happy with so in trying different things, manual mode just seemed to work best for me. It was mid morning without a cloud in the sky so a little on the negative side of exposure was helpful to keep the birds and water from being too bright. I think the ISO was at 800 (less made the photos very dark) and the white balance was set to full sun, aperture mostly F11. I have a Nikon D3100 and used a Sigma DC 18-250 lens, handheld, no tripod this time. All details in hopes of helpful critiques and advise from other photographers, please! I'd like to use the Shutter priority mode next time. For some reason the photos looked very dark. I thought that was sort of strange because of the bright sunlight but I must have had something set wrong. I'll try again next time. For now I'm super happy with these photos. Post editing is mostly just cropping and adjusting the input levels, which I was taught was pretty normal and minimal photo editing. I'd be happy to share the original photos (pre editing) if you'd like  Enjoy!

 I'd also love to identify the birds in the photos. Adding this to my list of things to do for my next bird photo blog post. 

This would have been better in S mode. Next time!

The egret shots below are my favorites. Such beautiful birds. Look at their feathers, so light and pretty. The whites aren't too bad, not super over blown, looks pretty sharp but I still want a perfect egret photo. I do love how you can see his feet in the water. 

And I finished my scarf....

Its a little wonky (lol) but not bad for a first scarf. I'm definitely in love with knitting. I've already started my second scarf. Learning to purl now. No progress was made on the cross stitch or needle painting projects this week, maybe next week...maybe later. 

Happy Friday!!!

Living by the Bay

Our new place is right on the bay and there are so many perks. One I can show you today is the otter that came by to visit this morning.

I hope this video works, we shall see. You will find the otter in the reflection of the sail boats in the water, follow the ripples. He never did make it out of the water for his close up.

Also really pretty flowers? or weeds? Anybody know what these are?

They sort of look like thistle but I've never seen them so big and tall.

The buds (?) are about tennis ball size on 4ft tall stalks. 

More photos of the water with a nice walking path right outside our front door. 

Cool duck sunning himself on the dock.

Very peaceful.

Next week I'll try to have my camera charged and computer set up for better photos. Not a great week to be outside anyway due to the poor air quality and all of the unpacking from the move.

Happy Friday!!!