These shots come from a little while back. When you are doing an air to air session, there is a fair bit of spare time. Unless you head out and back in formation, you have the transit time to yourself sitting in e back of the camera ship. You can stare out of the open door and see what is drifting by. We were heading back to Sonoma and so I got a great view towards the north end of the bay. The light was dropping down as evening came in so the hills and the marshes looked really pretty.
The marshes are usually good places for bird watching. As I was walking along the shore in Hayward, I passed a few people that were there to watch the birds. Some serious spotting scopes on tripods were a clear indication that these people meant business. Whenever they were set up somewhere, I figured I should take a look in case it was something unusual. Of course, finding out if it is something special does require you to have a clue about birds. I don’t so I didn’t know what I was looking at.
Despite that, I could still see that there were lots of birds. Many of them were hanging out on the mud flats that were just above the water level. I don’t know much about bird behavior either so whether this is a good place to feed or just somewhere to wait for the good feeding times is anyone’s guess. I just liked to see how many of them were together. Maybe there is safety in numbers for them – particularly the ones that are pretty tiny. I imagine they could be vulnerable to predators if they were on their own.