A Couple Early Mornings

One thing you think you won't want to do on a weekend is set the alarm for as early as is needed to get up and make it to work all week. However, the sunrise is usually one of the most exciting sky and atmosphere to get to see. Photos generally don't come 100% close to what it looked like but I still try to grab a few to be able to recall it all.

Probably because it is lower lying land, marshy land, there is often fog first thing in the mornings at Halls Rd. It can produce breathtaking landscapes which disappear real fast after about 7:30am. This weekend we set our alarm for 6:45 (not as early as I do for work anyway lol!) and we went down to Halls Rd. The sunrise didn't disappoint. We looked for the owl but didn't see her that morning. We heard later that she showed up after 9am and we had left to go home just 20 mins before that. We did see juncos and the white throated sparrows. I didn't get great shots this time though.  We walked down to the shoreline and saw a merganser as well as what we figured out later were a couple bufflehead ducks fighting in the water some distance out. Half their altercation took place below the surface of the water but they came up near the end then took off - quite funny! One thing that did occur is almost hitting a deer that jumped out and across the road about 7 ft from my car as we left. Scary lol!

Later in the day, we ventured back down to Halls Rd. before dinner and we knew right away that the owl was there because there were almost 2 dozen people there taking photos again. The more we see it the more crazy it seems. The owl lands right in front of people's feet, flies through and over people, hunts and eats right where everyone is and seems totally oblivious to the crowd. It sounds like some movie star emerging from the entrance of a store or restaurant or something, all the shutters firing simultaneously and people frantically running every time the owl takes flight to change branches. It's like the bloody paparazzi lol!

I relish that we were able to view the owl a few weeks ago, pretty much by ourselves at the beginning as it must have been when it first was spotted and only ourselves and 1 or so others were there one morning, when it had first been spotted. It was enjoyable to be able to be there on our own a couple times, without the rushing and shutters and occasional mild altercations that have occurred between people. It still is exciting to see it and we enjoy some of the people we meet but it isn't the same as peacefully enjoying the owl and sharing that experience together.

Sunday morning, we decided to go over to Thickson Woods. Not as early as Saturday though. The sky was not as dramatic as Saturday but still really beautiful. We did spot the Great Horned owl but so very hidden high up in a pine. No sign of the barred owls from Thickson, last weekend nor this one so we think perhaps the great horned made a meal out of them. Someone apparently mentioned a friend of theirs spotted their feathers on the ground last time they went there to look for them.