Here is another shot from my sunday adventures. This is from Butano State park.

For Father’s Day, we went out to the coast along Highway 1. Here is a view along Pescadero State beach. Days like today make me really love living here in the San Francisco bay area even with all the congestion.

Went out with Chip for a short trip to Sunol. The creek was in shadow so I pulled out my new Infrared Digital Rebel. I waded into the creek for this shot and needed a 20 sec exposure (times 4 shots). I thought it was shallow enough not to swamped my hiking boots but nope. Had wet feet for the ride home.

Chip and I took a quick trip out to Sunol. He was hoping to see the Little Blue Heron. Fortunately, it went zipping past us just after we left the parking lot. Then, we walked down along the creek behind the campgrounds. This is the trail. Chip insisted on ‘swanning’ around in the shot but the shutter time was 20 seconds and he disappeared.

Color version of previous shot. For this case, I think color works better.

As for the mysterious heron, it showed up again and did a little fishing in front of me. It is small like a night heron but it is all blue except for its head which looked charcoal gray. When I returned home, I looked it up in my birding book. I think it is a Little Blue Heron. They are a causal visitor to norther California. Fron the description, I saw a non-breeding adult.

Good news tonite. After a long wait, my infrared converted Digital Rebel arrived. Even though I was tired, had to go out to Sunol and try it out. Megapixels really do matter. After working with my 3mp D30 infrared camera, the 6 mp of the Digital Rebel are really noticeable.

Went out to Sunol. The light lately has been fantastic and even though I am very tired. I have to go out and get the shots while the magic is here. This is not my favorite but the best shot of the evening. I had on short sleeves and the mosquitoes covered me like a blanket and I fled home. This scene is from directly behind the Visitor’s center. I think it needs some people but even though I could hear folks around no one wandered into the shot.