Birds of Mazatlan (Mostly)

I continued to improve my techniques for stalking and catching birds in flight.  Here are the results from this week's efforts (and a little update on friends and projects):

Spotting the birds in the first place can be difficult.

This tricolor heron is particularly shy.  See it?

This one was out in the open and less skittish.

Even so, it took flight as I got closer and

I stalked it around the little island it inhabited.

This one was leery, but I was able to get

close enough for photos.

Sooner or later, they all take off when

approached, even when stalking cautiously.

While I've learned to recognize the signs of imminent

flight, it's still difficult and chancy to get them both in the

frame and in focus.

Black-crowned herons are a bit less nervous

than tricolored herons, but more skittish

than yellow-crowned herons.

Black-crowned heron takes off.

Yellow-crowned herons are easier to approach.

Some will let you get quite close.

Nonetheless, at some point they flee.

American oyster-catchers usually just quickly

walk away.

But I happened to catch this one flying by.

Willets also prefer to walk away unless panicked.

Snowy egrets also walk away first, but it doesn't

take much for them to take flight.

This osprey was somewhat less nervous,

perhaps because it's a predator.  It did take

off, of course, but I wasn't able to get a good

image of it in flight.

Got to see my friend Tod and his wife Donna

briefly as they stopped in Mazatlán on their way

to La Paz.

I joined Tod, Donna, Mark, Cindy and some other folks

for lunch by the pool at the El Cid hotel and marina.

Here's what Circadian's newly refinished 

sole (floor) looks like after six coats of

polyurethane.