Vacation: low tide, less rain, more birds

A couple of days later, the weather finally cleared briefly.  We got some sun, the wind dropped off, and there was our official bird trip  sighting of a Great Blue Heron.   He was off in the distance on a piling having taken it over from the cormorants.  I could see him fairly well through the bins but without them, it requires knowledge of typical silhouettes to identify him.

Great Blue Heron

A few hours later, there was a large flock of surf scoters playing in the bay.  Also requires zooming in on the photo to see them.  It was great fun to watch them playing in the water.  They were flapping wings and dipping their heads and sometimes making runs at one another.  It's almost as much fun as watching the birds play in the wind.

black ducks, likely scoters

Five hours later, we hit a noticeably lower tide.  Same piling as with the GBH above.

5:30pm with fading light

I was experimenting with my phone camera and zoomed in on the seagulls pecking around in the exposed sand/mud.  I really kinda like this photo because it looks almost like a painting of the scene when you click on it and make it bigger.  I'm thinking of printing it on silk and coloring on it a bit.

Zoomed in phone camera

A nicely birdy day and an enjoyably sunny one too.