The light was bad but I was standing by huge food source and critters gotta eat, something in my head said, “Wait.” Mono Lake is a major stopover for migratory birds and I saw small flocks of Wilson’s Phalaropes darting about. They would touch down briefly on the water and then move on. They would have to feed at some point, the question is, when. They are a small bird, about the size of your fist. So the other question was, how close would they get?
They are a cool bird species, I like Phalaropes. They are very busy little bodies. The odds were great that what we were seeing were all females. That’s because the males have all the nesting duties, once the eggs are laid, the females are out of there. There being the Arctic Tundra. I see a couple of Phalaropes motoring around the Tufa out in front of me. There are Joe Tourists walking around so I didn’t know if they would ever come in closer so I made a couple of clicks. I wanted to tell the story I was at Mono Lake photographing the Phalaropes so I shot the reflection of a Tufa with a Phalarope. I also wanted to speak to their eating Brine Flies so made that shot. The light had gotten only slightly better, the food was still in front of me and I had time. I looked at the light, the food, imagined the shot I wanted and moved into position for that shot. Then I waited!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film