Pelican

I set out along the beach, hoping to get an extraordinary gull-in-flight photo, or a great sanderling photo... something special for my 365th...

but the most interesting moment was coming upon this pelican, still beautiful in death. Pelicans always look prehistoric to me, and it was thrilling to be able to see it this close.

When I started blipping a year ago, I had no particular direction in mind. I already liked to take long walks, so I started taking my camera along. It didn't take long for me to get caught up in the world of birds, especially after I located some nests and could check on them daily. Ospreys took over my blip journal for awhile... then the yellow-crowned night-herons. Now the ospreys and herons have left the area, but migrating birds are stopping by on their way farther south. Gulls are always here... my emergency blips! My year of blip has become a year of birds. I'm learning much about them in the process.

The birds most often appearing in my journal?

Gull (31 blips)
Osprey (24)
Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron (20)
Great Blue Heron (11)
Great Egret (11)
Sanderling (10)
Brown Pelican (10)
plus 32 other species

Maybe the next year will bring greater variety of bird images, or perhaps a new direction altogether... and increasingly better images, too, I hope!

Thank you all for your inspiring photos, and your kind comments on mine!