Sunsets and Oystercatchers

I went out this afternoon to play with my new camera  (Canon 3Ti}  which has more megapixels and  the moveable  screen on the back.  I  used to have this flexibility on my old Lumix and  missed it with my last camera .  My daughter LJ was happy to take the old camera off my hands as it was  an  upgrade to her  older  Canon slr !  Let's hope she gets some good pictures  in  Costa Rica!  I did my usual walk at Carolina Beach Lake but decided to head down to the south end of the island to see if there were any critters hanging out even though it was quite late in the afternoon.

I was happily rewarded with seeing quite a few Oystercatchers even though the light wasn't good and I was looking into the sun.  I lightened this up quite a bit but you have to add even more to see their bright red bills.  I do love this bird as it is so graphic in its black and white plumage with that bright red.

I took this picture as well and when I got home I thought it might be a Godwit as it has such a long skinny bill and small head.  That was my closest guess.  I might just have to visit when the sun is behind me as there was a large flock  of some sort of duck off in the distance.  

The moon was rising as I returned home.  

My sister will be arriving tomorrow and hopefully there will be some of my favorite ducks at the Lake.  I only saw Grebes, some female Buffleheads, the Coots and the Long Tailed duck today.  Even the Scaups and Ruddy Ducks weren't there.

I had to do quite a bit of doctoring so you could see the image but my other little camera got a good enough picture to definitely identify this bird as a Marbled Godwit -- I think I have seen them in Fl once before.

You can also see the bill of the Oystercatcher in this one!  The little camera really does a nice job on telephoto even in the awful light conditions.