May Gray

It was a fairly lackluster day birdwatching, or at least it started out that way. I was supposed to go with Ken to the Torrey Pines State Reserve but then he begged off, having to wait for a delivery at home. Mike asked if he could join me on my excursion and I happily said yes. Always nice to have friendly company and we rarely shoot together.

He drove and we entered the preserve, found an empty parking lot. It was a cold, grim day, it had been sprinkling earlier in Fallbrook. We walked the trail for at least a half hour before we saw a lone peregrine falcon and it was so far away at first I thought it was a gull.

I hit all the normal places and came to the conclusion that the birds had either fled or were hiding themselves exceedingly well. Still the lack of avian activity would not get in the way of a good walk and hike.

Always other things to look at. Dolphins leaped and paddleboards glided in the ocean below.

I was pared down to my smaller Sigma lens and the Nikon D850. I have been shooting the monster nikkor 400mm 2.8 so much handheld that my ulna nerve is aching. Need to give the elbow some rest. No tripod either, like carrying an anvil around and I frankly needed a break.

Was the scarcest day ever. Nothing on the trees, very little in the air. But I love the area, always enchanted en el lugar where the cactus hits the ocean, such a great California phenomenon, alta y sur.

Canon and Nikon, playing well together.

I caught a series of shots of a lone falcon hovering over the Pacific, nothing really that particularly special.

Felt a bit guilty for dragging my friend so far out with no major payoff.

But the pursuit is often about long periods of waiting and he and I both understand that. It turned out we didn't have to wait that long.

We decided to do one more trail circuit and then call it quits. We were just about to head for the car at the end of a loop when a family that we had befriended earlier in the day bumped into us and let us know that there was a falcon sitting on a branch at the bluff.

We quickly headed over.

Pay dirt, an adult male peregrine falcon with an ocean backdrop, very picturesque.

We thought he would fly but he never did. He paid us little concern, content to pose and preen.

I took 1557 pictures. Law of averages says I have to have grabbed something decent.

Looking forward to giving the shots a good look and seeing what we ultimately captured. I am happy with the shots I have seen so far and don't think the quality suffered much at all with the lighter, slower, longer lens. My best closeups of this season.

I leave you with a small taste.

Peregrine falcon with visible nicitating membrane