Yolo County, California

White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)

One of the best ways to see wildlife is from your car. Wildlife don’t often see cars as a threat and, especially while birding, using a car as a blind is a good way to get photos.

I was using my car as a blind one afternoon (in fact it’s against the rules to get out of your car on this autoroute in order to reduce stress on the wildlife) when I saw a flock of ibis coming in for a landing. I picked one and panned with it all the way until it almost hit the water…upon which time my side mirror got into my shot. I missed the landing because of my stupid mirror! I almost deleted my photos from my camera but quickly got distracted and forgot.

When I got back in front of my computer, I realized that the occlusion from my mirror caused a beautiful fog that the ibis looked like it was flying into. Suddenly what would have been a somewhat mundane photo of an ibis landing turned into a dynamic and artistic photo. (I’ve toyed with calling this photo “The Beauty of Mistakes”, but I don’t tend to title my photos.)