Taking a stroll down to the Harbor, and the nature trail beyond it, produces all the birds you would expect such as California Scrub-jay.
What's nice about the Harbor at Half Moon Bay is the ability to study similar species up close such as Clark's Grebe (pictured here) and Western Grebe.
From a distance, especially with young Western Grebes or Western Grebes in molt, the black feathering around the eyes can be soft and lead to confusion. Close up yo can see how the feathering comes into full breeding plumage as is happening with this Western Grebe.
Close up it is easy to see how Clark's Grebes really have a black cap but that cap does not bleed down below the crown at all. They also have a distinctive red eye line that goes down to their bill. Sibley suggests that Clark's also tend to have more white on their flanks and are grayer while Westerns are darker on the back.
Western Grebes have dark lines on both the upper and lower parts of their bills and it is a dull yellow to olive whereas Clark's have a bright yellow bill.
Another two species offering close up comparisons were Red-throated and Common Loons. We did not see any Red-throated in breeding plumage, this bird is probably a first summer Red-throated.
A Common Loon in full breeding plumage.
As would be expected you can also check out every age and molt that common seagulls like this Western Gull go through.
Adult Western Gull
A morning walk out of the hotel with a cup of coffee in hand produced a long distance migrant, this Wandering Tattler.
Red-tailed Hawk
California Towhee
White-crowned Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
Staying at a place like Half Moon Bay allows one to test lighting in the same spot. This image was taken at 7:30 am while the next one was taken at 6:30 am. Same bird, both shots from a pretty good distance but each gives insight into what the light helps accentuate. For me, this image, while very warm and scenic does not capture the bird as well as the next image, even though that one is a little grainier due to the low light.
The same holds true for the next series of Grebe images, showing the difference in shooting with early, soft and low light versus more overcast afternoon light. Shot at 1/1000 sec at f 5.6 with 400 ISO
Shot at 1/640 sec at f 9.0 with 640 ISO
And what would a collection of images from a CA harbor be without at least one Sea Lion shot!
