So I should have known that our sunset/night tour was going to turn out well because at the very start I got this great shot of the resident chamber-of-commerce egret on the wharf before we even started. To be fair, this Great Egret has a clear draw because the local fishermen come in and clean their fish at the dock and there are lots of tasties for a very aware egret to munch on. So he's very cannily skulking around to get the goodies from two fishermen working on their catch. It was a great start.
We start out and first of all, we have lots of sun - thank heavens. The lake is not only up, but up a lot because of all the rain, and even a couple of nights ago they had another 2½" of rain in one night. Rain means clouds, and that means no sun!!!! But tonite we have sun!
Right away things look up. There's a couple of osprey nests on the lake and we trek close to one and there they are - a couple working the nest. This one has a nice tastie and probably getting a little snack before he heads back to the nest with some goodies for the kids!
They really are elegant creatures and these ospreys are very large. The ones we see in Yellowstone are a bit smaller because of the climate, but these are a lot larger and a little more skittish, but we manage to get closer.
This guy was obviously trying to draw us away from the nest, and we followed. Either that or he was protecting his tastie from us. I wanted to tell him he could have it if he would simply sit still for a quickie portrait....maybe with the dog - maybe not. I'm not sure Bruno would be that accommodating (barking and all might be a bit disconcerting for the osprey!)
This is the nest and mom finally gave flight with a beautiful wingspan. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great shots of that fabulous wingspan to show how really large these birds are. Oh well, something to work for next time around!
We took a canoe ride earlier in the day even with clouds the landscape is totally lush. All these photos are larger and you can see them when you click on them individually. I can only imagine what this will look like this summer when the trees are in "full bloom"!
As we ended our ride we got some fabulous shots of the sunset. One of the great things of nature is how it blends opposite colors of the color wheel (yes, it's another art lesson from Claire), without the colors getting muddy. Notoriously when you do that with paints - no matter what medium, the colors get muddy, but not in nature. They simply compliment each other beautifully! Here the turquoise of the sky and the orange of the setting sun set each other off gloriously.
Match the complimentary colors (without mud) with the silhouette of a cypress or two, and It's a Painting!
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