Race Pt Beach Sunrise and Sanderlings
Thank goodness I always carry two cameras - and on this morning - both tripods!! Two mornings ago I left very early in the hopes of capturing the moonset over the Harbor Lifesaving Station out at Race Point beach. Well… you never know how an outing is going to turn out! The time for moonset and sunrise were within a couple of minutes of one another which means I needed to hustle to get into position. Once I bundled up and had all of my gear organized and head lamp on I headed out from the parking lot. I probably went out about 8 minutes and I realized I did not like the direction I was going… so I headed back down towards the parking lot and then down the road to the Over The Sand road that heads out into the dunes behind the Harbor Lifesaving station. Because we are all restricted to staying in current paths it took me a decent ways out of my way before the path turned in the direction I wanted. While I was hoofing it out there the moon was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. Clouds were building on the horizon so I knew there would be a very good chance the moon would hide behind the bank of clouds never to be seen again on this morning. But I kept going and found a perfect spot but about 10 minutes later than I should have been there! So I set up both cameras as fast as I could.
Well… the moon did sink behind the clouds so I never did get any shots of the moon setting. As I looked around I found yet a higher place I could walk up to along the path I was on. I kept thinking that dawn and sunrise had a great chance of being spectacular so that was my next goal…
As dawn was breaking the sky filled with magnificent pinks and incredible blues! As I always, it just took my breath away! The sunrise was glorious!!! Once I finished up on top of the dunes I then went over the last dune to the beach - amazing!! Absolutely stunning lighting and an opportunity I have hoped for for a long time - huge flocks of sanderlings - in the thousands!!! More than I had ever seen!! Wow….
I hope you enjoy!!
You are looking at the Harbor Lifesaving station on the right (I had no idea it was being repaired!), the RPB Ranger station with the red roof in the middle and to the left a shack/barn that the rangers use.
I can’t wait for another opportunity when repairs are finished!!
I could not believe when I looked over my left shoulder and saw Race Point Lighthouse - way out there - just light up with the first rays of the sun!!
I practically did a header into the sand running down over the dune to try and capture this magic!! :-)
So now I have packed up my landscape camera and tripod and put them in my pack on my back…. and for the rest of these shots I have set up my other tripod down very low and I have my knee pads on and am kneeling scrambling around on the sand like a crab! lol….. Honestly with this kind of light and bird activity I will do anything I can to try and capture the beauty!
There were some Dunlins mixed in with all of the Sanderlings… this is a Dunlin.
Sanderling
In this series of three shots …. you will see the sanderlings fly out and over the biggest of these spectacular waves! As soon as I took this shot I ran down as this wave was receding in order to get the next two shots… I have tried this more times than I count and these are my best to date…
I got as low as I could to take this shot as they were zooming past with the huge crashing wave behind! Absolutely took my breath away!!
And then they landed closer to me than I could have hoped for!!
The end!!