Hiding Heron

By mere luck I noticed this heron hiding amongst some small pines at the water's edge and caught a picture of him in hiding.


I paddled around the corner of the stream and was able to catch the lovely bird in profile. He's a lot easier to see that way. Plus I did zoom in on him a bit.

Almost Sunset

The sun almost all the way down while kayaking across Lake Hartwell in SC.

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.

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.

Gulls on a lake

I came across this cluster of gulls while kayaking across a lake. This was as close as I could get before they flew away.

Beams of Light

I took this picture while kayaking yesterday on Lake Hartwell in upstate South Carolina. The day was chilly and very overcast but the rain hadn't started yet so it was still relatively pleasant. That soon changed, unfortunately.