In the evening, Kate went to the marina while John was working on something. She said that she saw wondrous things, such as unicorns, flying pigs, and a 1937-D 3-legged buffalo nickel. John wanted to see the wonders of the marina, so we went back the next evening.

Before we left, we heard one of the White-winged Doves nearby. We were finally able to get a picture of one. They are kind of skittish. The first one was closer, but it was badly backlit by the sun.

Here you can see a comparison of the badly backlit dove, digital processing of the badly backlit dove, and a properly lit dove. The digital processing leaves the image a little washed out. AI processing or more effort masking off the bird would probably produce a better image.

And here are three properly exposed images. This was a new bird for the catalog.

We went to the marina, and all the wondrous things were gone. John thinks she just made it all up, but there were plenty of mundane things to see. John photographed an American Pelican catching and eating a fish. (Warning: If you zoom in, you might see fish guts.) Sadly, the focus shifted to the background for the fish swallow. The yellow tinting is due to the sunset – the Golden Hour.

When it swam under the foot bridge, we got the closest and clearest picture.

And some Ring-billed Seagulls flying, swimming, and on pylons.

There were a few sparrows hanging around the beach. We are not sure if these are Song Sparrows or maybe Lincoln Sparrows.

On the way out, we saw a Great White Egret fishing at the boat ramp. (The stripes are the traction grooves in the boat ramp.)

The unicorns and flying pigs were probably scared away by all the fishermen. The nickel was probably sold on e-Bay. Okay, maybe the wondrous sights of the marine were Forster’s Terns and Western Snipes, not unicorns. Close enough.