We scheduled this morning’s photo hike to start at 8, recognizing that that was early for most people.  But for me, that’s late!  I arrived at Circle B at around 6:45 and hiked down to the lake to meet the sunrise.  I was happy to see that the lake wasn’t all stinky with decaying fish (I was concerned that there was a fish kill with last week’s cold weather.)

As I passed the eagle’s nest next to the nature center, I saw both birds in a tree near the nest.  There’s nobody incubating on that nest yet!

Yesterday I had noted that there were fewer pelicans out on Wading Bird Way, and I wondered if they were at the lake.  In the early mornings you see the pelicans flying in the direction of the lake.  Well, that’s where the birds were!  A Belted Kingfisher made his voice heard over the swishing sound of the pelican wings overhead.

When I arrived at the dock, which is a great vantage point for seeing the sunrise, I happened upon this Great Blue Heron sitting on the dock railing.  I quickly backed up and got a few silhouette shots.  I turned on the flash and tried some shots with the heron nicely illuminated, but I liked the silhouette better.

The sun popped out from below the horizon just as I reached the dock.   For this shot, I used my 400mm lens, with evaluative metering and -1 exposure compensation.  I liked how the 400mm lens was enough of a zoom to better show the birds flying in the sunrise.  My wide-angle didn’t do that.

I couldn’t stay long at the dock, as I had photo hike participants arriving soon!  As I walked back towards the Nature Center, I stopped at a few breaks in the trees that made a nice frame for the rising sun.  I took +/-2 stop exposures and combined them in an HDR image in Photoshop.  I try to keep my HDR images realistic.  This one seems fake somehow, but I liked how the trees were not silhouetted and the detail in the sky is seen.  It really was a gorgeous morning!

As I reached the Shady Oak trail, I turned back and looked at the lake.  The sun was peeking through the trees and the fog still hadn’t burned off.  I took another bracketed set for HDR…

I saw a group of three Sandhill Cranes on my walk back to the nature center.  This is the same place where Dyeyo and I used to see his “baby’s” family last year. The birds were extremely friendly and didn’t bat an eye as I approached them.  Their mannerisms and habits were so much like last year’s family that I really wonder if this is Dyeyo’s baby.  Look at the close-ups of the heads below.  One of the birds has a brighter red head, a bright red eye, and less fuzz to the face.  I think that’s the adult.  The orange-eyed bird with the fuzzy forehead, I believe, is Dyeyo’s baby (but he’s not really a baby anymore!)

“Thousands” hardly describes the number of birds who slept on the lake and took off as the sun peeked over the horizon.