[wendylou]

I had to try out my new camera with actual sunlight today!

At Mill Lake in Abbotsford I spotted this heron just standing in the reeds:

006 by wendeedee, on Flickr

And these two gulls standing on thin ice. I think one is a first year because of the black beak and both Glaucous-Winged.

005 by wendeedee, on Flickr


004 by wendeedee, on Flickr

I think this was a mature Cooper's Hawk, he was way up in the tree

007 by wendeedee, on Flickr

I went to Ellwood Park later in the afternoon, at what my husband calls the golden hour, and these photo's showed the golden glow alright. I think these are common mergansers, but I didn't see any that looked like females, please let me know if I have this right, thanks.

013 by wendeedee, on Flickr

And this terrible picture was perhaps a red-necked or western grebe. He flew away almost as soon as I noticed him, so this is all I got. He seemed more orangy in the neck, but with the sun going down, its hard to tell what was real.

014 by wendeedee, on Flickr

Sure enjoyed being out in the sun today! My new camera is a Canon SX500IS Power shot. I will probably never get more than a point and shoot (even tho I ooh and awe over all the fantastic photography I see on this site), but this one has more pixels than my last camera and more zoom, so I am very happy with that. Happy New Year!

[Birder2000]

Congrats on the new camera! I really like the colour in the water in your merganser photo. The last bird is a Double-crested Cormorant.

[wendylou]

Thanks for the id Liron, glad you could tell what it was!