Wildlife Photography across the Water: California Travelogue-Day 4

Sunday 1 May 2011

California Travelogue-Day 4

Another early start and back at the lake, The Eared Grebe is no where in sight and i am sure its migrated off, I take some low Coot images and decide not to hang around, I was driving down the road to leave the park when i see another photographer on the side of the road, I look to see what he is shooting and see a Burrowing Owl, A couple of minutes later and i too am shooting it-another new specie for me and one i have wanted to see and shoot for some time, I talk to the photographer who is a local called Hank Christensen, We spend some time talking and he gives me some local knowledge, Afterwards i head off down to Monterey to meet up with blog reader Jim Lindenthal who was kind enough to feed me and take me to some of his local haunts, Jim has recently purchased a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 500 so after we sat around and discussed cameras and photography, Its always nice to meet up with like minded people and Jim is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, He lives in a wonderful place for a wildlife lover, before dinner i popped out to the bay and found some Clark's grebes and a few Loons, I climbed down the rocks to the sea shore and waited and the loons soon made their way over and in the late light looked fantastic, I watched a young look preening and waited until it reached up and stretched its wings as most birds do, I went back to my car and looked at the beach, I could see a wader making its way through the surf and had a small amount of time to grab some images, it turned out to be a Whimbrel and i ended the day on a high, After a fantastic meal with Jim and his wife i headed back to San Jose and by the time i had downloaded and charged the batteries it was gone midnight, California was treating me very well and i wish i had more time here

Burrowing Owl

Harbour Seal

Common Loon/Diver

Harlequin Duck

Common Loon/Diver

Clark's Grebe

Whimbrel

All Images using Nikon D7000 with 600+1.4x

Dave

1 comment:

Kah-Wai Lin2 May 2011 at 15:12
The light is beautiful!
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.