It's a Duck

Yes, I'm quasi-quoting Monty Python there. "So, if she weighs the same as a duck...?"

This particular duck was found today at Sarah Duke Garden, floating away and happy as could be. His partner was on the bank and acting kinda bossy and contrary. I don't know what accounts for the temperament difference but speculating on that difference could get me into trouble within my own species.

Sunrise

The sun is rising above the trees as I stop paddling for a minute to admire the scenery.

Heron before Dawn

I went out on the lake at 6am, about 25 minutes before dawn, and saw this bird at a point between two coves. I only got a few pictures of the heron before it flew off and these are the only two that weren't too blurred by the motion of my kayak and the dim light available.

The picture above was taken first, as I was approaching the point, and was taken at maximum zoom. The picture below I took about 2 minutes later while looking sideways at the heron. It was this motion, turning around in the kayak, that caused the bird to take off. Odd that he'd be afraid of people.

Laying up along shore

I was taking a picture of a heron while close to shore and got pushed onto the small rocks alongside the shoreline. It was hard to take a steady shot from this vantage point! Oh, the heron flew away, dammit.

Heron

Here's the fellow I was referring to in that last post. He was quite a ways away. I was using my 12X zoom and it's a little fuzzy due to the waves bouncing me around and it being an overcast day. I opened up my aperture as much as I could...

Want some tires?

I was kayaking this morning and took a picture of some tires. They're being used as a wave barrier at a sailboat marina. I used them as cover to take some pictures of a heron. They're rather shy and prone to fly off once they see you. The tires, on the other hand, are quite reliable and don't go anywhere. Not as pretty tho.

An Accident Waiting to Happen

This is the kind of picture that can make you nervous if you like zipping about in a power boat. I took this picture in January, on a bitterly cold day, in upstate SC. I was hiking and the log was quite a ways out--I used my 12X zoom to get the shot--so there wasn't anything I could do to the log. I just hope that it washed up on shore before some speedboat hit it.

Most lakes in the Carolinas were created in the 1940s by flooding valleys. As a result, there's lots of dead trees waiting down there. Scary thought.