A Sunny Day at the Beach, Pacific Northwest Style

Last week’s trip to the beach was notably “unbirdy,” but one of the sunniest days I’ve spent at the beach for months. Though disappointed by the lack of birds, my spirits were lifted by the sunshine, which has been sadly lacking around here lately.

Better than usual light, though, allowed me to focus more on capturing birds in flight, by far my favorite kind of bird shot. I’ve gotten far too many shots of Black-Bellied Plovers stolidly facing into the wind or scurrying along the beach gathering food, but very few shots of them in flight, as in this shot.

Black-Bellied Plover in Flight

Although most of my shots of Pelicans are shots of them flying by, few of them are as bright and sharp as this one.

Brown Pelican in Flight

Heck, a pair of Kingfishers even got in the spirit of the moment and buzzed me as I walked the spit in Wesport.

Female Belted-Kingfisher in Flight

Of course, I still couldn’t resist taking this picture of a seagull playing with a feather,

Gull with Feather

simply because it was there.