This was another early trek with a less than spectacular sunrise, but the glow on the water was quite pretty.
First Light on Snowy Egret
Tag Archives: Sunrise
Good Morning!
A lone Snowy Egret stood with his back to the sun as it rose.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was all about orange.
Good Morning
A gorgeous announcement of the day this morning at the entrance to Bear Island Wildlife Management Area.
Sun rising over Mary’s Pond
01/24/2018 – Click on image for larger view
Racing the Rising Sun
Taking photographs of the rising or setting sun highlights just how quickly the earth moves. During the rest of the day you are hardly aware of this, but when working to position yourself in just the right spot at either end of daylight you feel like you are racing against the sun.
This Great Blue Heron seemed content with his chosen spot to watch the marsh start a new day. He stayed put until the sun was fully up and the glare kept me from seeing him.
Just four minutes after the first shot above, the photograph below was taken just before the sun would be blinding in my face.
Sunrise at Shem Creek
It was not the “fire in the sky” sunrise I was hoping for, but just a warm glow for a few minutes before the sky turned dull.
The tide was in, which was good for the Double-crested Cormorants to swim and dive in the flooded marsh at the edge of the creek, but there were few wading birds around.
This Tricolored Heron made a few passes around the quiet sailboats.
Adventure
We had driven all around Sedona, Arizona, seeing the red rocks from all the tourist spots at various heights from the top of the airport mesa down to the water at Red Rock State Park. Anywhere you looked there is some size “rock” jutting up into the sky.
The ultimate adventure was to see it from above, where the pace was slow and the air quiet, at the whim of a hot air balloon. I was a little nervous but the skill the crew from Red Rock Balloons demonstrated as they unpacked, rolled out, and inflated our balloon eased my fears. The pilot was clear in his instructions to us, including how to climb into the basket -I’m not that nimble- and what was going to happen when we came down.
The heat from the dancing flames took the chill off the early September morning.
There were three balloons in our group . We were the first to lift off and saw the other two complete their final preparation.
You really couldn’t feel movement as we drifted out into the valley. The sun rose and the light changed rapidly.
In just minutes the entire valley was lit.
We startled a few small groups of mule deer.
In about an hour we were back on the ground. The pilot discharged the end of the fuel to cool the tubing, the balloon came down, and the crew packed everything back in the trailer.
Yes, I would do it again!
