Carpinteria California

My favorite place so far in California would have to be Carpinteria where we visited the wetlands the city is restoring and the beach. I’d have to say that the wetlands were my favorite, though, because the beach was very busy, while the wetlands were relatively quiet.

I managed to get some excellent shots of Snow Egrets, though the best shots will have to wait until I get home because I was so close to the bird that I had to take multiple shots with my 400mm lens to get it all in the frame and I don’t have Photoshop available to merge them. Here’s a shot taken from a slighter greater distance:

Snowy Egret

I also like this shot of these small shorebirds taken at almost exactly the same spot:

Small Shorebirds

I’ll have to admit I’m really missing my bird identification book, as well as my 70-200mm lens, but I could barely lift the suitcase as it was and something had to be sacrificed.

These birds look an awful lot like the Godwits I pictured at Tokeland last fall, but, again, I’d need a book to positively identify them.

Tyson and Family.Large Shorebirds

While everyone else spent the afternoon building sand castles, wading in the ocean, and blowing bubbles,

Tyson and Kids.

I focused on the Pelicans diving repeatedly offshore:

Pelican Diving