Other highlights, besides the glorious sunrise and sunset, included "clocking" a Belted Kingfisher at 40 mph as he flew in the canal beside the road that we were driving on, seeing 5000-10,000 snow geese (and seeing them blast off time and time again as a Bald Eagle stalked them, and watching a pair of Bald Eagles try to catch a duck. The snow geese were took up more than two football fields in the pond. Tom loved watching the predator!
I also added a Rusty Blackbird to my lifelist. We saw lots of red winged blackbirds and a birder pointed out a few rusty blackbirds traveling with them (I photographed a few for record shots). The wild horses here are usually in one area and we have seen them every day, including a few pretty close. But there were 10 escapees that jumped over the barbed wire and 4 of them wandered onto the Wild Life loop -- so we were within touching distance of them. Tom even laid down on the ground to get a different perspective while photographing them.
It has been generally very warm out. One morning for sunrise we had to wear out thermals and one evening the wind picked up and it was cold but almost 60 during the day. Sunrise does come early but luckily so does sunset -- and the inspiration to get up early is great.
Today we did not have a great sunrise or sunset, but this allowed us to be a little more creative and hence we still had a good day. After sunset we took photos with the shutter open for long exposure and had a little fun. We watched a Great Egret sit in a canal as the tide came in and catch fish after fish, just waiting, anticipating when he/she would strike next. The Sika deer (there are also white tailed deer on the island) were out in great numbers today, closer than the previous days which was a nice treat.
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