Yesterday, I took a lunch-break drive down to the beach where Back Creek comes into the Mousam River behind the dunes. There were 4 winter plumage Horned Grebes diving just off the bridge. They are interesting little birds, especially when the sun catches in that bright red eye. We don’t see them in close during summer, but they are often off the beaches here in winter. The are very active birds, swimming rapidly on the surface, and then diving and staying down for 30-60 seconds…often coming up unpredictably 100 yards to one side or the other of where they went down. Not easy to photograph, but just to attractive not to try!

Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill.  1), 2) and 3) @ 1800mm equivalent field of view (1200mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function). 4) @ 2400mm equivalent field of view (2x dtc). All hand-held.

1) f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250. 2) and 3) f6.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. 4) f6.5 @ 1/320th @ ISO 80. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.