Kristen's feathered

What a challenge this was. I knew it would not be easy but I have a dramatically increased appreciation of wildlife photographers now!

There is a manmade wetland near me, I always see ducks and various water birds there as I drive past so on a sunny Sunday I decided to head down there. I thought I would get some nice easy photos of ducks - 1 swimming, 1 of a family feeding them at the adjoining park, 1 in flight. Easy.

I arrive and start walking - nothing. Not a duck, not a magpie, not even a seagull. And no families enjoying the Sunday afternoon and feeding the birds. All I could see was Willie Wagtails. I love these little birds but they were proving too tricky for me.

And then I walked around the corner to a most unexpected sight...

I didn't expect a Pelican in the middle of a suburban wetland. So I spent sometime taking photos of Mr Pelican. He wasn't very interesting though and mostly stayed in the 1 spot watching me with some degree of suspicion.

With no ducks or anything else in sight, I gave in and decided to try for a Willie Wagtail photo. Most definitely not in flight though - they are so fast and erratic! This is the best I could get, I wouldn't say I am happy with it but will settle for it. It is very heavily cropped and the focus is not spot on, but it will just have to do.

After many failures I decided to give in and walk back to the car and hope that I could find 3 usable pictures or maybe encounter something in our backyard at home (highly unlikely with 3 border collies on bird patrol). Not far from the car I saw something white and managed to catch this...

Thankfully big birds fly much slower and straighter than small birds. I have no idea what it is but am pleased to have got something with some motion.