A Hunt For Herons

The photos in this post are from a group ride on Saturday October 23, 2010. For a number of reasons it was a poorly-attended ride. Only three of us, all at least 58 years old, could make it to the assembly point in Banning, California. The object of the ride was to photograph the clouds of Herons, specifically Snowy Egrets that during other years gathered on the shoreline of the Salton Sea in the Fall. In the photo below, taken by Dan Underwood, Mike Harmon (shading his eyes) and I (back to camera) search the shoreline near an old resort, now a community center, on the north east end of the inland sea.

Below: Startled when I walked too close, a Snowy Egret took flight.

In all, I counted only six Herons all day. It was a poor showing, but we were perhaps a few weeks early. Below, a single Snowy Egret stood on a wooden pole emerging from the water near a group of Pelicans.

We rode around the sea, stopping to look for the favored waterfowl at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge. Below: A view of the Refuge’s marshland from the observation platform at the south end of the sea. Nearly a mile from the shore at the platform, it was too muddy to chance riding our heavy road bikes any closer, and we were running out of time to walk to the edge of the water, though we could hear thousands of water birds hidden in the rushes.

The photo below shows the thick growth of “cattail” rushes. The rushes reminded me of my grandfather, who in the 1950s, gathered the rushes and used them to cane the seats of antique chairs, though that was nearly 3,000 miles from the Salton Sea.

Before leaving on the ride I had commented to Lisa that when it is only the “old guys” riding, it is often a somewhat slower, more relaxed ride. Oddly, that ride was over a hundred miles longer than our typical ride. My theory for the longer distance is that we got so involved in looking for Herons that we forgot to make the usual stop for beer…

Chasing Light

Though my alarm was set for 3:30am, I woke a half-hour earlier on the 20th of March. The bike was gassed up, the cameras and tripods packed, so I was showered, warmed with decaf, encased in leather, and on the road toward the Salton Sea at 3:30. The sea is always a crapshoot, as far as what kinds of waterfowl may be present. But the gulls and pelicans never seem to leave, which is alright with me, since I like watching the pelicans. All of my previous visits to the sea have been during the middle of the day, but this time I was chasing the light. Wanting to catch the birds in the early light, I planned on arriving at the old resort pictured below about a half-hour before sunrise.
	Near the northern end of the lake on the eastern shore is a long-abandoned resort.
I don't know what the resort's name was, since it was in such a bad state of "repair" until a few months ago when restoration work started on it. The restoration has partially returned the resort to what I suppose was its former glory, and the width of the southern breakwater has recently been expanded with the "sand" typical of the sea, the tiny shells of various marine creatures. The “magic” light is volitile, changing quickly as the source of sunlight continues to higher above the horizon.
	This photo, a view in the opposite direction of the one above, has quite a different quality of color, though it was taken at nearly the same time.
	I liked the way the low-angled sunlight illuminated the pelicans on the water.
	The next four photos were shot in the direction of the shore from the southern (newly-widened) breakwater.
	Hunting breakfast, the pelicans cruised back and forth in the sheltered water inside the breakwaters.
	As they swam gathering breakfast, they turned in and out of the light and shadows.
	They don’t seem to bother each other when they catch something, but when a gull flys in to take a fish, the nearby pelicans rush the gull. I assume it’s a profitable strategy, or they wouldn’t repeat it so consistently.
	As on the last ride to the sea, there was a single Heron, a Snowy Egret in the area. This may be the same individual that I've seen before, but I don't know, since they all look the same.
	The same egret as above, standing sentinel on the southern breakwater.

Stalking the Snowy Egret

Twice a year or so, the River City Riders find themselves along the shores of the Salton Sea. A favored rest stop is an abandoned resort on the northeast shore where numerous waterfowl rest and feed. The resort’s breakwaters, built to shelter small pleasure craft from high winds and waves, provide near-perfect perches for birds. The photo below shows the abandoned resort’s breakwaters.

Though there are a typical abundance of various pelicans and gulls in the area, my primary interest is in the Herons, particularly the Snowy Egret. We stopped on a group ride in early March, 2009, and I photographed the egret shown below in mid flight between two pilings with my Lumix FX01. Note the other egrets on the breakwater in the background.

I wanted to go back and photograph the egrets when there was more time to stay by the shore and wait for suitable photographs to present themselves. I waited too long, though. Mike Harmon and I rode back down there equipped with our Nikon DSLRs at the end of April, but the majority of the egrets were gone. They had migrated north for the summer, no doubt. There were plenty of pelicans and gulls to photograph (see below) but it just wasn’t what we were there for.