Headed Home

I woke in the wee hours of Sunday morning at Bishop's Ranch to the high pitched yip yip yipping of coyotes. It was a great way to start the last day of my mini-break. After another yummy breakfast and we were off; caravanning to Bodega Bay.

Bodega Bay was fruitful – we found dozens of Brants – beautiful and petite ocean dwelling geese with smart modern art on their necks.

There we also saw loads more Eared and Horned Grebes, and most interesting – a humongous mixed flock of shore birds; Willets, Marbled Godwits and Dunlin, who huddled together on the shore bank waiting for the tide to go out.

After that we three went to a local chowder shack for a bit of lunch, then it was time to go our separate ways; Don & Teresse headed back to Palo Alto, and I headed for home.

Along the route I decided not to pass up Fazio Wildlife Refuge hoping for something exotic, bit finding the usual cast of waterbirds; cinnamon teal, coots, Northern Shovelers and Pintail.

However, I did have a bit of fun photographing an American Bittern that raced along an irrigation berm as though late for a meeting of the Better Bitterns Bureau.

Shortly after that a beautiful little Wilson’s snipe walked with every bit as much a sense of pressing obligations, along the shore, quite close to my Honda. I took several photos of it and got one that is dead lovely; best Snipe photo I’ve ever managed.

'Hurrah!' I thought, 'finally a clear shot of a Snipe.' Feeling rather smug, I then headed for home.