Little more than black silhouettes

These beautiful White-faced Ibis flew over Frank Lake the day before yesterday. They were just distant, black silhouettes, but I took a very quick shot so that at least I would catch the shape of the curved bills. Fully zoomed and brightened till a bit of their iridescent colour showed. Such a poor quality shot, and normally I wouldn't post a photo that had headless or legless birds included : ) This is the closest in-flight shot I've ever taken of these Ibis - so I'm keeping it.

Two days ago, 26 April 2015, I spent the day with a fair-sized group of friends, at Frank Lake. The weather was beautiful and, for once, not windy. Frank Lake and the surrounding area is one of my favourite places to spend a day or half a day.

On a trip like this one, there are a lot of the birds that I don't see, as I don't use binoculars. Also, my interest is not to see as many species as possible, but to hopefully come across a few birds close enough to photograph. Fortunately, at the bird blind/hide, a pair of Eared Grebes and a Coot were within camera range.

I will add the final list of the 51 species seen, complied by our Leader, Tony Timmons. Probably not of much interest to most people, but it does help my memory. Many thanks, as always, Tony, for a very successful and most enjoyable day! Really appreciate your giving up a precious weekend day to take us out there.

"The birds put on a spectacular show for the 19 participants on the Frank Lake trip today. We tallied 51 species.

Expected species were present in pretty good numbers; most noteworthy being American Avocet (200+) and White-faced Ibis (120). Thousands of ducks were on the Lake.

Thanks to Dan Parliament and Al Borgardt for scoping birds and sharing sightings with the group.

Before the start of the trip, Rose Painter spotted two Long-billed Curlew near Blackie. Later in the day, we searched for the birds without success.

Eared Grebe 250
Western Grebe 20
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Black-crowned Night Heron 1
White-faced Ibis 120
Canada Goose
Swan sp. 12
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser 2 f.
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier 3
Swainson's Hawk 3
Gray Partridge 4
American Coot
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 10
American Avocet 200+
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 17
Franklin's Gull 1000
Bonaparte's Gull 10
Ring-billed Gull 5
California Gull 20
Rock Pigeon
Great Horned Owl ( 3 ad. + 3 owlets )
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow 60
Bank Swallow 1
Marsh Wren 4
American Robin
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark 5
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird 1
House Sparrow

Tony Timmons"