Glorious dawn!
The last two mornings I have been at Bullitt in Ashfield - WOW!!!!! The beautiful early morning fog, fall colors, delicious 46 degree air, gorgeous sunrises and very happy wildlife! The early morning light was astounding - such intense perfect low light that hit all of the weeds and grasses in the fields as the sun made its way up over the mountains. These shots are from Sunday and Monday morning as I ran around to my favorite spots hoping for the magic to happen - I hope that you enjoy!!
These beautiful rocks are highly prized by the chipmunks, squirrels and birds - they are always competing for a spot on top of them. I set up so that the sun would come up over my left shoulder and just waited…. and then this little one put on such a show as he seemed to be mesmerized by the morning light!
After he was done I scooted around to the other side of these rocks and caught this sparrow scaling this spectacular rock…
The light then exploded absolutely everywhere!!!! It was so stunning… I was then on the move from one favorite place to another as I tried to capture the birds in this truly glorious light!
I looked across to one of my favorite spots that has beautiful vines loaded with fall colors and I saw this Phoebe land on this newly cut tree in front of those vines… I was crouched down low behind the grasses and moving as fast as I could to get in the position I needed to be…just hoping he wouldn’t move so that I could get him on this perfect perch….success!
And then behind me in the trees, I heard all kinds of wings fluttering so I spun around to see a feeding frenzy! I made my way as best I could near the two trees, getting most of the attention from the birds - and wow!!! Finally I was able to capture two birds that had been elusive for me this season… the palm warbler and ruby-crowned kinglet!!!
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Palm Warbler
And then this darling palm warbler flew over to a gorgeous maple tree… I had the hardest time finding it again…. but I kept at it and scored…..!
I then heard a house wren somewhere behind me…. and down low to my left, I spotted it!
Next, I heard the little buzzing sounds that cedar waxwings make…. and spotted a few of them on some of their favorite branches…. :)
A then a flash of movement on my right caught my attention so I quickly and quietly got down low behind tall grasses to try to spot who had flown over in that direction… I kept looking and looking through the tall grasses and weeds and then found it - a Phoebe had landed on a milk pod in dream-like light!
And then, over to my left and in front - a beautiful yellow-rumped warbler decided to say good morning - please look at me!
A gorgeous little white-throated sparrow!
And last but not least…. I love the weeds and grasses on this edge of one of the fields … and lots of birds like it too. To end my morning, two sparrows put on shows for me! This is a Lincoln’s sparrow.
And then the song sparrow…. As I was walking back to the car he was belting out his beautiful morning song which was part of the the glorious dawn chorus….
Mother Nature just keeps on giving…