This is part II of my road trip for last January's Super Blood Blue Moon where I traveled up the coast to Bowling Ball Beach and Point Arena to see the lunar event. For those shots of the Super Blood Blue Moon, etc., just click anywhere on this sentence!
After the eclipse, I headed a bit further north to Fort Bragg to visit the beautiful Mendocino Coast of California wander about to see what I could see. Happily I saw birds, including two species that I've never personally seen before. And just beauty everywhere. It was a gorgeous day.
These are two of the birds I hadn't seen before - Black Oystercatchers.
Seaweed is beautiful!
And so is Sea Lettuce.
Here's another Black Oystercatcher and a possibly, slightly better shot. There were actually tons of them on this particular rocky beach.
Next I moved a bit further up the coast and found these Cormorants and Seagulls.
And a lot of rocks. And seaweed of various kinds that I have no idea about.
This kind was frequently attached to empty mussel shells.
This next photo is of another bird I'd never seen. A Black Turnstone. I'd never even heard of it truthfully. But it was really pretty and cool to see.
Under the sea...
I got caught by a sneaker wave!! This is what happens when you're looking through a telephoto lens and don't see the other, closer waves. Haha! Luckily I saw it and turned just in time to prevent my camera being completely soaked. The back of my head was though.
This is kinda creepy and yet cool!
Here's that same Black Turnstone. It had flown away earlier, so I was happy to find it again.
It was enjoying the sunny day too and had a mid-morning nap in the rays.
This is looking back to where I was. There was a cool, little flat pool beside where I got splashed with my sneaker wave. I had been standing almost at the end of the flat part a bit further ahead than the people you can see in the photo.
I had a great time trying to get some cool macro shots of the dew in the grass and plants. I'm sure people thought I was a bit strange though.
After this I headed to the amazing Mendocino Botanical Gardens. Even though it was January, they had so many gorgeous plants and flowers. And it was a great walk before I spent 6 hours driving home. :)
xoxo
Nikon D3300
