Usually where you find Black-Necked Stilts and White-Faced Ibis you also find American Avocets. Usually. But not always. We were nearly half way through the Sacramento NWR before Leslie spotted the first — and only — Avocets of the day. I think she actually sighted them with her binoculars because they were a long ways away, but she did manage to get a shot of them with the camera she was using
and I managed to get a little better shot of the same birds because I was using the newer camera and lens,
but I never got a really good shot because they didn’t come closer even after fifteen or twenty minutes of waiting for them to do so.
The best part of looking for birds that aren’t there at the moment is that you see birds that you might have otherwise overlooked, like this Great Egret
or this Snowy Egret. The only two we saw at the refuge on this visit.
There weren’t any Eagles or Doves, but birding is one time you really should take Steven Stills’ advice: “If you can’t be with the one you love, … love the one you’re with.”