Avocet Feeding

This American Avocet is actively feeding, by sweeping its curved bill (very slightly open) from side to side through shallow water. It senses bits of food as they pass through and somehow captures them.

We were at San Joachin Wildlife Sanctuary south of Los Angeles (operated by a local chapter of the National Audubon Society) in late afternoon. They have an number of pools and marshes--today with a few avocets and many dozens of black-necked stilts, as well as many other good birds. In the morning we visited Bolsa Chica Wetlands, another sanctuary with good waterbirds, nearby in Huntington Beach. It was there in January 2001 that I first tried out my new Canon 300 mm lens, with slide film, capturing a number of good bird shots for the first time. (It was not till April 2003 that I went digital.)

If you're wondering about the blue around the bird's fleet, it's simply reflections of the marvelous blue sky.