With wings spread, several canada geese run across flat dirt in order to get speed for takeoff
Recently I was out by the bay photographing when I heard a commotion off to my left. I turned to see several canada geese running toward me at full speed, wings spread out to the side. I had seen geese take off into the air from both land and water, but never before had I seen them sprinting along the ground for such a distance. I even had time to regain my composure, turn my lens and capture several images before they reached the end of their runway and flew off into the air.
I’m not sure what caused this behavior – maybe they were spooked by something or fighting with each other. But for a split second, it seemed as if they’d go on running forever, running me over in the process, and head off into the sunset.
A white pelican spreads its wings as it takes off from the water
A couple of weeks ago I visited Byxbee Park in Palo Alto, just before sunset. I wanted to explore a slough I had never been down before, and was lucky to see eight American White Pelicans, all swimming together and fishing. The first photo and the next were shot as part of the same sequence of one of them taking off from the water.
You can clearly see a flat horn protruding from the top of the bill. This indicates that this pelican is breeding. After breeding season, the horn will shed off, leaving the bill as it was before.
A white pelican spreads its wings as it takes off from the water
Usually I try to frame birds with most of the photo empty in front of the bird. This creates a more pleasing composition as it seems to add more room to the photograph. It allows the viewer to visualize the bird moving through the photo. With the above photo however, I knew at takeoff, the pelican would leave behind splashes as it took off into the air. I wanted to capture these in the photo, so I panned slightly slower than the bird was moving so that in this case, most of the empty space was behind the bird.
Below are several other pelicans from the same group. As I was watching one fish, he lifted his bill into a magnificent head throw.
Perched on an underwater stump, an american white pelican throws its head into the air, twisting it back and forthSwimming through a slough, a white pelican preens its back feathers by rubbing its bill against themA white pelican perches on an underwater stump in the midle of a slough, Byxbee Park, Palo Alto, CA
A trumpeter swan spreads its wings in a green, wetland field.
On a recent trip up to Seattle, my wife and I came across a large green field full of resting trumpeter swans on their way up north during spring migration. With around 200 swans, their honking created quite a din.
Reaching a wing span of 8 feet and weighing as much as 30 pounds, these are North America’s largest native bird. Like many large birds, trumpeter swans were hunted close to extinction in the 1920’s, primarily used for their feathers with which to decorate women’s hats. At one point, the world’s known population had fallen to 69 birds. Due to conservation efforts, the species population as grown to about 34,000 birds today.
A long-billed curlew snaps at a gull, chasing it away
Most of the time, many different avian species coexist in relative harmony, going about their business while generally ignoring one another. However, as this week’s photo can attest, there is occasionally some friction. I’m not sure what caused this curlew to snap at the gull, but there was quite a flurry of activity before the gull was chased off. It wasn’t until I reviewed the photos later that I saw the curlew defending his territory.
