I spent last weekend with the family up at Bodega Bay, which is about an hour North of San Francisco. We were impressed with the variety of bird species we found in the area.
I apologize for the long set, but I wanted to illustrate the variety, which included some firsts for me (including the Brant, Black Turnstone and Snowy Plover). Plus, I have no filter.
All shot with the 1DX and 500L II, some at 700mm with the 1.4x.
#10 - Hooded Merganser, female (didn't see any males )
#11 - Molting red-breasted mergansers (thanks for the ID assist, Dorian ). They look like "The Joker" to me (never seen them with such dark eye circles)
Great stuff Jim. The godwit IF and the Fox sparrow are my favorites of this fine set. I think your common mergansers are actually molting red-breasted mergansers in case you care.
What a great variety of excellent captures, Jim What all of these have in common is your great control of the exposure, great clarity and fine detail. Well done!
Socrate
I would love to spend some time and comment on all of these Jim but I'm not getting any younger
What a marvelous set and such a diversity! All of them are expertly photographed, they truly are superb. Thanks for the coot but you do have some of my "southern" favorites such as the phoebe and towhee. We usually have a flock of brants that spends late winter here on there way back to the breeding grounds, this reminds me that I need to find the chance to photograph them!!
) 
One fantastic image after another . Love them all.
