An Attempt

(January 26th) Today I returned for a morning of shooting the pelicans, but with a modification. I had taken quite a few portraits shots and close-ups. I had also concentrated on some behavior as well. Today's game plan was to concentrate on flight shots. Since I've spent almost every morning at this location and not really given much of a feel for what it's like, here is a picture from across the water of the cliffs that the pelicans and cormorants come to in the morning. These are the rocks that I'm climbing all over, leaning out over, etc.

In the minutes before the sun comes up, there often aren't many pelicans there yet. But the cormorants sleep on the vertical faces of rock. This Brandt's Cormorant actually is in breeding plumage and these cool whiskers that I love, but they're tucked in as it sleeps. In this low light, your photographs can capture much of the detail that falls into shadow with just a little bit of direct light.

I forgot to mention that I suffered an equipment failure during this trip rather early on. My flash sync cord stopped working and an attempt to fix it failed miserably. Without this, I was flash-less which was something I wished to use many times during the trip. While I was focusing on flight, I was prepared to photograph anything that piqued my interest. This Brown Pelican had not only stretched out its head to scratch, but also turned its head completely upside down. If it was going to go through all those contortions, how could I not press the shutter?

One advantage of these cliffs is that many birds come to it. This is a double-edged sword though. It's great because there are lots of subjects in front of you. The disadvantage though is that it can be difficult to isolate a single bird and make clean compositions. Especially for flight shots, you have to time a single shot just right to get a bird in good light, good position, and positioned in the frame without distracting objects or other birds. This Western Gull intrigued me as its lack of a foot didn't hamper it from flying, landing, or even walking around. I wonder what story it would tell if it could describe how it lost its foot.

I got a few acceptable flight shots today, but I felt unsatisfied. I vowed to try again soon and improve on the shots. This one of a Brown Pelican coming in for a landing was definitely one of the better ones. I had a little bit of sunshine before most of the morning was dominated by dense cloud cover.

The pelicans didn't stick around very long in the morning, but they weren't the only ones using the cliffs. I climbed down near the base of the cliff (which is rather difficult when you're carrying one large camera and lens on a tripod and have another strapped around your neck - don't try this at home, kids...) to reach some of the other visitors. A few California Sea Lions had hauled up onto the rocks. This large male was looking out over the females which had come up to share his rock. He spared me a few glances but I didn't seem to interest him much.