After patiently hanging out at the “ official” clapper rail observation spot (Palo Alto Baylands Preserve), I started to drive back without a single shot on the memory card. Then I spotted a clapper rail in a bush not far from the road. Re-parked the car immediately and walked within shooting distance. Just about when I was ready with the camera the bird came out of the bush and started feeding in the open.
I hope you like it and comments are welcome.

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Wow, Steve these are beautiful shot my friend . Man I got to get some bigger glass.

Beautiful stuff Steve. Great detail, nice saturation and colors too, well done!

Steve

it must be hard to be you bud , you are both very good and very lucky indeed

J

Beautiful series Steve! Was this the 500?

Dwight

THicks wrote:
Wow, Steve these are beautiful shot my friend . Man I got to get some bigger glass.

Tom, appreciate your comment very much. Actually the bird was nice enough to let me get pretty close, so was able to use the 300mm f/4. Anyway, you deserve the bigger glass.

Steve

hamster wrote:
Beautiful stuff Steve. Great detail, nice saturation and colors too, well done!


Niko, thanks for your very nice compliment. I am glad you enjoyed them,

Steve

Great job Steve. perhaps i will run into one day as that is one of my favorite areas.

jmcfadden wrote:
Steve

it must be hard to be you bud , you are both very good and very lucky indeed

J

John, thanks for your very kind reply. It was a very lucky day and I almost missed it. The more time I spend outdoors, the luckier I get.

Steve

Xeris wrote:
Beautiful series Steve! Was this the 500?

Dwight

Dwight, thanks for your kind reply.
The bird was nice enough to let me get pretty close, so was able to use the 300mm f/4. That let me move around a lot faster to shoot from different angles. For one of the shots I was standing in the water up to my ankle.

Steve

mark1958 wrote:
Great job Steve. perhaps i will run into one day as that is one of my favorite areas.

Thanks Mark,

This fellow was in one of the bushes right across the street from the duck-pond.

Steve

Wonderful work. I love the feather detail... I don't think you could ask for better light, exposure, or composition.
regards,
bruce

I love those shots. Keep up the good work. I look forward
to seeing more posts from you.

OwlsEyes wrote:
Wonderful work. I love the feather detail... I don't think you could ask for better light, exposure, or composition.
regards,
bruce

Bruce,
thanks for looking. The light that day was perfect, high thin cirrus clouds providing fairly bright yet diffused illumination. How many times does that happen at an extremely high tide? I was even luckier than I thought.

Steve

edmanet wrote:
I love those shots. Keep up the good work. I look forward
to seeing more posts from you.

I am glad you like them. Will try very hard to keep them coming,

Steve

Just beautiful, Steve. Really nice work, again.

Wonderful captures Steve and your patience paid off well. It was just waiting for you to get down there to him.

Gary