I think it was worth the nightmare of standing outside in the freezing cold (well, 0 degrees C. Which is not so cold for Canada but still pretty cold to be standing in one spot for an hour!) to get these few shots in the clear winter light. It's quite different from the murky summer light. Even in the early mornings I could not escape the haze, most days.
The wings look almost purple in this shot.
I had begun to suspect for some time that mama in particular did not trust me. I noticed her constantly looking down at me when she was perched way up high in a tree as I waited below for her to fly off. Or DO something. More than once, when I finally gave up, put my camera away and started to walk off, when I looked back after 10 paces I saw she was gone. I joked to people that she was taunting me; I'm beginning to think it's not so much a joke.
It was very early this day, just after dawn, I think 7:30am or so. I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading down before work to see if there was anything going on. Mama seemed to be wanting to escape my fervent attention, and flew to a low branch beside the youth hostel. I muttered under my breath, "Please please please don't fly away" as I crept up to get a good angle with the sun behind me.
She obliged me by sitting in the branch for a while, just looking around and keeping a close eye on me. I was encouraged to see that she's not SCARED, I think I'm just bugging her quite frankly. That area is their territory, where nothing else dares to tread or fly through without their consent. So I think it's not so much that she considers me a threat, just that she doesn't like it that I make myself so welcome in their front yard.
This is at the very end of Janurary, I had to wait a whole month for another clear day on a weekend. The tide had started going out (so much earlier than I thought!) and, being completely unprepared, I spent the whole afternoon up to my ankles in freezing cold ocean.
All the birds (Great Blue Heron, seagulls, various ducks, eagles) were excited about the feeding grounds. I must have caught their excitement because I blew off three rolls of film, most of which were rather uninspiring shots.
This one, however, I believe is nice enough.
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