Holy Bird Day, Goosey Lucy!

I'm looking out my window right now and seeing a tern (I think it's a tern) swirling in pink sunrise clouds and I'm not going to take a picture of it. As happy as I am with my new camera, unless everything is just right, they turn into streaks of blinding white and I'm not quite ready to stop drinking my tea while waiting for everything to be just right.

Instead, you will get yesterday's birds, when I was quite happy to spend a fair amount of time being entertained. Except the falling down for geese part - more on that in a minute.

I spied this one across the street. By the time I got my camera, he was in my yard. Thank you, Mr. Strangely Beautiful!

Hearing splashes from inside, in the late afternoon, I knew the pelicans were fishing back in my part of the bay. What is better than a magic light time peli ballet with a front row seat?

Oh, just float there and look regal.

But not for long. There are sardines to catch, sky to fly in!

Delish!

You have something...um...right there...on the end of your beak. Never mind.

Aerial maneuvers

Take off

Definition of soaring

These two fished together for quite a while. I missed the shot of them, in perfect synchronicity, hitting the water, but you can tell by the splashes I ain't lyin'.

Peli ballet

Splashdown!

Under there getting the goods

Up peliscope

Ready to do it again

 I could have stayed out there another hour, just watching, but I didn't. Later, when it got to darkness, a friend from Virgin Gorda (on facebook) mentioned how beautiful the moonrise was and that she hoped people with cameras were catching it. I went outside and she was right, even though I'd missed the initial mellow yellowness, it was still really gorgeous.

With flash

Without flash. I like them both

 I had very cautiously made my way through the yard and down to the little dock. It was, even with the moon, pretty dark out there. Not dark enough to have brought my trusty lantern, but dark enough to be very careful. Having slipped on that downward path before, I try to take care. All was well.

And then I heard the geese. At night, there are only a few birds who make sounds and it is usually NOT geese. You might remember the photos I took of a few of them awhile back, who have apparently migrated over here from Birdland on the way to Zoni. Well, now there are more and they were making a serious racket. I could tell they were at the other end of the yard and maybe I could see them. I walk that path half a dozen times a day, there's nothing in the way. Except...a hand sized rock that was in exactly the right place to skid slip and fall over, taking it on the arm NOT holding the camera and the bun cheek of the same side. Nothing was broken, the geese were still going crazy. Carry on.

I really couldn't see them at all, so I just clicked into the darkness. There they were!

 With the first flash, they went totally silent. I could almost hear them paddling away.

Thus endeth bird day. I don't even want to see the bruise on my butt, the knot on my arm is enough to a) make me whimper b) convince myself I should be a professional photographer on safari in an African country because I'm so stalwart in carrying on with the task at hand when injured. Mostly, I'm just carrying on.

Have a take to the task totally Tuesday! Do something tremblingly triumphant.