Had an appointment in Kirkland this afternoon, so I figured I'd stop by Juanita Bay Park while I was there. Gray, dreary, drizzly day - got rained on a bit, but not too bad. Hoping to see the sora again, but no luck there. However, a Virginia rail made my trip worthwhile by coming out in the open on the mud flats to forage. I watched and photographed it for the better part of 45 minutes from the moment it appeared around a small point (Rails can swim? Who knew?) until the light got so bad my camera wouldn't focus. Most of the later shots at ISO 10,000-12,800 are so noisy as to be almost unusable, but some of the earlier ones at ISO 4,000-5,000 aren't too bad.
This last one was shot at ISO 12,800... I was able to clean it up enough to be usable for the web...
This last one was shot at ISO 12,800... I was able to clean it up enough to be usable for the web...
