The forecast was for clear skies, and as I left my apartment yesterday before dawn, I didn't see a cloud blocking any of the stars. I had slept in later than has been my regular routine, as my shift at work is changing starting this evening. For at least the next few months, I'll be starting work at 5 PM, rather than 2 AM, so that means there will be fewer sunrise photos here for a while, but there may be sunsets at times. It wasn't until I was approaching the Muskegon County wastewater facility, and the first light of dawn was breaking to the east, that I saw that there were a few clouds to the east to produce this kind of sunrise.
The first light of the day
I zoomed in a little, hoping that you'd be able to see the numerous ducks that have arrived as they head south for the winter, but that didn't work.
There are hundreds of ducks there, honestly
Those two were shot towards the north end of the storage lagoon, near where the wastewater is treated, and if I had included anything along the edge of the lagoon to create a leading line, it would have been of the equipment and machinery, not great subjects for a photo. So, even with the light constantly changing, I decided that I had to get to a better spot from which to capture the glorious light show that was unfolding before my eyes.
Sunrise over the lagoon
I could resist doing a cloudscape or two, but I'll only include one.
Cloudscape
If I had known that there would be that type of sunrise, I would have gone to Grand Haven, and climbed the stairs to shoot the sunrise from the North Ottawa Dunes Nature Preserve, rather than the same old same old.
However, things went very well going to the wastewater facility to start the day, I got two more lifers as far as species of birds, a female blackpoll warbler...
Female blackpoll warbler
Female blackpoll warbler
...and sanderlings.
Sanderling
Sanderlings
Sanderling
I also found a couple of other species that I don't often see, so here are two of my snapshots of them.
Wilson's snipe
Juvenile black-bellied plover
Neither of those birds would move to let me get better shots of them, sorry about that, you'll have to forward any complaints to the birds for not being more cooperative.
I'm getting ahead of myself, back when I was shooting the cloudscapes at sunrise, I also shot these.
Flying duck at dawn
Flying ducks at dawn
Northern shoveler at dawn
Geese flying into the sunrise
It's too bad that the geese don't show up in that photo in its small size here in my blog.
Northern shoveler in the pink light of dawn
It was soon light enough to try to get a good photo of one of the hundreds of killdeer there while they were flying.
Killdeer in flight
One thing led to another...
Killdeer landing
...and I became obsessed with the killdeer and their reflections on the water...
Killdeer and rocks
...there were plenty of opportunities for me to play...
Killdeer flock in flight
...too bad I can't control the bird's actions ;) ...
Killdeer flock in flight
...and I liked how three birds became one, but their reflection gave them away.
Killdeer flock in flight
As many killdeer as were there, there were even more starlings.
Starlings in flight
I paused shooting flying birds for a second to shoot this...
Dew on grass seeds
...but then I just had to shoot one more killdeer testing the water.
Killdeer testing the water
The American pipits have arrived as they journey to their winter home.
American pipit
American pipit
I like this next photo, even though I did everything wrong, and knew that I was doing so when I shot it.
Spotted sandpiper on the rocks
I also tried to find a way to show you how many swallows were there, as some were perched on the power lines as others came and went.
A few of the thousands of swallows seen
A few hundred of the thousands of ruddy ducks that will stop at the wastewater facility this fall have arrived, here's a male...
Male ruddy duck
....and a female.
Female ruddy duck
Just for the heck of it, here's a blue-winged teal.
Blue-winged teal
Some one liked the earlier photos of dew covered spider webs that I posted, so I spent a little time shooting a few more of them.
Dew covered spider web
Dew covered spider web
I was also able to test the 300 mm lens with the doubler behind it out on a great blue heron.
Great blue heron
I also put that same combination to use for a few photos of a Cooper's hawk...
Cooper's hawk
Cooper's hawk
...being harassed by a murder of crows...
American crow
American crow
American crow
None of those were cropped, which would normally be a good thing, however the shortcoming of it is that I wasn't able to get any of the action shots as the crows would dive bomb the hawk, or the hawk retaliating towards the crows.
I did get a shot of the hawk looking at me to ask if it didn't have enough trouble with the crows, and did I really need to be bothering it too?
Cooper's hawk
Well, I suppose that's enough of another big batch of snapshots that I've posted, so it's time to wrap this one up.
That's it for this one, thanks for stopping by!
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