tuesday treat

For north central Florida, this morning was pretty darn cold . . . 34 with a brisk wind.  I was up early to take Dave to work and on the way home, the sunrise was especially beautiful.  On chilly mornings, I've been known to crawl back into bed for another hour's toasty snooze, but that beautiful sunrise and the awareness that the sandhill cranes will soon be departing convinced me otherwise.

So I bundled up in layers of capilene and boiled wool, donned my hat and gloves, packed up the camera and walked the mile and a half down to the south cow pasture.  I was focusing on the cranes nearest me, when a woman pulled up with binoculars and asked if I was taking pictures of the whooper.  The whooper?  I hadn't seen her, hadn't actually looked to that back field where she tends to hang out.  But there she was, such an enormous and glorious creature.  And with my nifty 50x zoom and some well placed fence posts to use as my tripod, I managed to snap a few pics to share.

But first, not sure what it is, but I just love cow and crane pictures.

cranes and cows with some nice residual early morning light

whooper and sandhill cranes cruising around

getting a bit feisty

magnificent creatures

her feathers are still a bit ruffled

a bit blurry, but still wonderful

What an amazing gift to have such easy access to these glorious creatures.

I stayed out as long as I could.  The wind was really picking up and I was turning into an ice cube, so I headed back home.  I had thoughts of snapping a few more pics, but I was bloody well frozen and decided a brisk walk home to a hot cup of tea and a toasted english muffin seemed like a better idea.

There are other things to share . . . but I'll leave it at this for now.  Going to enjoy this full moon burst of energy and see where it takes me.

l i g a - kvk