Parakeet Auklet After the Storm

Saint Paul Island is, for all intent and purpose, in the middle of the Bering Sea. When there is a storm, it is usually quite a storm with heavy rain and high winds. The birds stay out at sea, or on/in their nests to protect their eggs/babies. It is after the storm when the birds start to arrive back at the cliffs in big numbers. It can be overwhelming, at times, seeing the number of birds swirling around. This is when we fight the urge to photograph the flying birds, and focus our lenses on the perched birds that seem to come out to stretch, or linger on the cliffs to rest. Even though I used a small aperture to try to get some details in the sky, the resulting image has very little detail, so I replaced the sky to add some drama to this image.