Early Birds
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There is something to be said for sleeping in. It feels good. Especially when the days are cold. Lounging about sipping hot coffee thinking about how your lazy self should have been up and out the door while it was still dark because how else are you ever going to encounter Nature in all its glory when it’s common knowledge there is nothing worth photographing once the Golden Hour has passed!
Okay. I’m up.
Gini remained in this morning, but not in bed. Holiday crafting material is now on sale and there is shopping to be done! The internet is a wonderful thing. Spend right from the comfort of your own living room. She promised grits and eggs upon my return.
The air was actually balmy, in complete synchronization with my personality. I managed to reach the shore of the lake just as the sun was escaping a low-hanging cloud formation. Warmish temperature was welcome as I knew a cold front was scheduled for tonight.
“The Regulars”. One can pretty well list the birds which will be encountered at familiar spots during any given season before even leaving the house. Sure enough, there they were. Anhingas draping the cypress trees where they spent the night. The Great Blue Heron atop a lookout where any tell-tale ripple in the lake’s surface at dawn’s early light would mean an easy breakfast. Common Gallinules gabbling among the reeds in the murky light. A pair of Limpkins wailing eerily at each other from opposite ends of the park. Morning flights of White and Glossy Ibises, Double-crested Cormorants and Cattle Egrets flowed across the sky in waves.
As the sky began to brighten with the rising sun, the volume of bird noised became increasingly incessant. An Eastern Phoebe yelled out her name, Boat-tailed Grackles screeched collectively, Red-winged Blackbirds sounded like a yard full of rusty gates and overhead an Osprey yelled at a Forster’s Tern to get out of the way.
Less than two hours later I tucked in to hot buttered grits, a link of smoked sausage and perfectly scrambled eggs. Hot coffee and orange juice almost completed an excellent breakfast. Perfection was achieved with just one more kiss. She is just so very special.
So. I could have enjoyed a warm bed for a couple of extra hours. Or, I could experience a sunrise and a short walk along a lake shore filled with birds followed by a hearty breakfast accompanied by hugs and kisses.
Easy decision.
The lake just after sunrise offers the promise of a wonderful morning.
Escargot. It’s what’s for breakfast. If you are a Limpkin.
Not worms, but fish are on the menu of this early morning Osprey.
The visiting Pied-billed Grebe Synchronized Swim Team was out this morning practicing for their next competition.
She migrated south to stay warm and eat bugs. We offer opportunities of both for the Eastern Phoebe.
I couldn’t figure out if this Snowy Egret was admiring his reflection or zeroing in on a minnow.
A Little Blue Heron offers two different views. Resting after preening and putting that long neck to good use in searching for the first meal of the day.
I was surprised this Black-crowned Night Heron didn’t take flight as I happily snapped a few photographs. Must have been waiting on his breakfast order to be delivered.
Sometimes, sleeping late is a nice luxury. Today, it would have been difficult to imagine anything more luxurious than spending an early morning at the lake.
Enjoy your search for a natural place and come back for a visit!
Our Natural Places 
Delicious sounding breakfast! I mentioned that lovely act by your wife to Linda and got a “hell no” smile back. Worth a try. I have to admit, that is probably the most pied-billed I have seen together – used to seeing them in the onsies and twosies. Figured those grebes were just anti-social. With the turning of the new year, I had to clear my check list – going to have to go hunt down one of those Limpkins once again unless you can somehow keep the northern eruption trend that occurred last year – they were everywhere up here.
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Those sunrise photos are special Wally. And all your bird images are great too, but the last one is really lovely.
Well done!
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Thanks very much, Ed.
As you well know, timing is everything. The bad news is, we seldom know ahead of time how our timing will work out!
That Black-crowned Night Heron was literally three feet away when I spotted it. Had to back up to get a shot. Handsome bird.
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I hope I didn’t lose my comment! OH MY!
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No worries. Your comment was found just fine.
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We don’t get out early….don’t tell! lol But we see quite a few birds no matter when we hike. We like to wait for the sun to come out and the temps to rise…we are spoiled! I love the photo of the Little Blue, he looks different with his neck pulled in. And the Limpkin is a neat sighting! We’ve had lots of good sightings this week so we are excited to get out even more. Enjoy your weekend!
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Your secret is safe with us, Diane.
Getting out is the important part, no matter what time the clock says.
Thank you for taking the time to say such nice things! We appreciate it.
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If it brought fabulous results like this, Wally, I could be tempted to make pre-dawn visits to wildlife reserves in the winter – ah! – but that’s forgetting that your cold winter temperatures are way above our cold winter temperatures. Here I sit at mid-day, with sub-zero temperatures, in spite of bright sunshine.
Best wishes to you and Gini – – – Richard
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You are right, Richard. We are SO spoiled. And love it!
We both hope the coming weekend will be a peaceful one for you and Lindsay.
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Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. With no apologies for the earworm (which I also gave to myself).
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That earworm is acceptable ANY day!
And it really was a beautiful morning.
Thank you, EC.
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The golden glow of those first landscape/sunrise images is so pretty. Are those cypress trees in the second photo? I don’t know why it surprised me to see them, but it did. I was equally surprised to see so many Grebes in a flock. I can’t remember ever seeing more than one or two pair, and even those seem reluctant to be seen.
I’ve never seen such satiny feathers on a Snowy Egret, either. That’s one gorgeous bird. I’d get up early and (maybe) pass on breakfast for a sight like that!
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The Golden Hours are actually pretty well named. Makes rolling out of bed worthwhile.
Yes to the cypress trees. They seem to be all over the place around here. Must be something in the water.
During migration, the Pied-billed Grebes travel in small flocks for better protection from predators. It’s common to see a dozen or so floating on larger bodies of water at this time of year.
Those satiny feathers are what got the Snowy and its relatives into trouble with milliners’ agents in the late 19th century. Soon those feathers will take on the feathery appearance of breeding season and for which members of the family are named: “aigrettes” morphed into “egrets”.
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Now that’s a whole lotta grebes! Definitely a swim team! I actually have never seen that many at once, wow!
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There were three separate groups that morning of about 15-20 each. Definitely time for the swim team migration.
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Thank you for sacrificing a few extra hours of sleep in order to bring us these wonderful morning impressions. It’s nice to know that you didn’t also have to sacrifice your breakfast.
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I am totally willing to sacrifice so that others don’t have to.
Giving up Gini’s breakfast offerings – well, that’s asking a bit too much.
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😊
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So you got grits and eggs after you had the grit to egg yourself on and head outdoors. A bit of osculation was a bonus.
It seems likely the snowy egret was looking for fish rather than admiring his own reflection. Unlike some people, birds don’t seem given to narcissism.
Excellent and somewhat whimsical portrait of the black-crowned night heron.
Sorry to have to gainsay the “‘common knowledge’ there is nothing worth photographing once the Golden Hour has passed!” For certain kinds of pictures that may be true—your dawnscape is a great example—but many other kinds of good pictures somehow let themselves be taken outside of the day’s two Golden Hours. Okay, you weren’t being super serious.
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Gini is very good at “motivating” me to get to the nitty gritty and she is constantly egging me on to do my best.
We have many cases of humans appearing to have bird brains so is it out of the question an egret might have observed some our “look at me” generation and has begun to emulate them? Let us all hope not.
I am very seldom “super serious”. As soon as I learned there were “rules” for photography, I set about to avoid them. Alas, it shows.
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Totally worth getting out early! Beautiful shots!
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Yes, it was.
Thank you, Dina.
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Having the place to yourself would make the levering-out-of-bed thing worth it. I love kids, dogs and music in small doses, but. But.
Anyway, you caught some beauties – I especially love that Black-crowned Night Heron (or Night-heron, for the naming purists) with his ruby jewel of an eye. Very nice!
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Thanks, Sam.
It was another good morning.
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Amazing what you can catch right around first light of the day.
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So true.
As a bonus, most everyone else takes advantage of that sleeping in thing so I had the place to myself.
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