It wasn’t just planes that were flying over Clear Lake. While the splash in was the reason for me being there as discussed here, I also saw a lot of bird activity in between the planes. A few were flying along the shore and I got shots as they came by. However, at one point, a huge flock of pelicans appeared along the lake. I have no idea what prompted them all to fly at that time but I am really glad they did. Shooting images of large flocks of birds is sometimes tricky because framing the shot never really gives the impression that seeing them for real does. However, in this case, they were flying in echelon and got to a position where they were perfectly lined up for a photograph. I was surprised and happy in equal measure.
My evening outside in Nevada with Paul and Chris included some down time while we waited to see what would happen next. While we were hanging around, we spotted a bat fluttering around. Needless to say, we had not come prepared for night wildlife photography. However, I had the ISO ramped up and a long lens in my hands so, while the shutter speeds might have been a bit low, I figured I would have a go. The little fella was not terribly close so these are cropped quite heavily and even then he is a bit small but a couple of the shots give you the distinctive outline of a bat, even if he was fluttering so fast that freezing him was not going to be on the cards.
