A Second Visit to Doran

Our second visit to Doran Regional Park with Jeff and Debbie was quite different than our first trip by ourselves.  Debbie had been reading about a new walk that crossed the wetlands, a trail we had never heard about. The weather was quite different, too, a thick fog blocking out the sunshine that had marked our first visit.  We got to see birds that we hadn’t seen on our previous visit, especially Egrets.

A hundred yards down the trail a Great Egret blended in beautifully with the fog as it hunted prey (the camera and Photoshop made it more visible than it seemed in real life).

Egret Hunting in Fog

As I’ve mentioned before, I actually like walking in the fog but generally am not happy with the photographs I get then.  

This photo of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets grooming themselves in a pond is an exception, though; it’s my favorite shot of the day.

Egrets Preening

The fog was gradually burning away as we finished the loop and headed back to the car, but there was still some fog left when I got this closeup of a Snowy Egret on the other side of the pond.

Snowy Egret in Reeds

By the time I got to the other side where I took a picture of the egrets grooming, the fog was entirely gone, and I took this shot.  I definitely don’t like this shot as well; the whole feeling is gone for me.

Egrets Preening

The photographer in me is always in search of sunshine because that’s when I usually get my most memorable shots, but past experience has shown that it is possible to get beautiful shots under all kinds of conditions.  You just have to be open to what’s in front of you.

3 thoughts on “A Second Visit to Doran”

    1. That’s about how often I see them at home in Puget Sound, which why it is a treat for me to see them when we visit Santa Rosa, CA.

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