I had a plan for Saturday morning. I figured that there was time to go to Bayport for the sunrise, and then head back home and find the Sandhill crane family as they left the pond behind me and headed out on their day’s adventures. And it was going well, I thought, as I saw the color beginning to develop in the sky. I don’t always notice the flag when I’m at Bayport, I have already tried, and failed, to get the flag to be flowing in the breeze with the colors of the sunrise behind it. I guess I need to be taller. But this day it struck me that the flag was at half-mast, and I realized it was in honor of Barbara Bush. A well-earned sign of respect I thought.
The colors continued to develop, but the overall gray hue at the horizon continued also. The 600mm lens saw this…
As it got lighter I turned away from the sunrise and looked to the west, looking for otters playing, or the Great Blue Heron who frequently appears just as the sun rises. I found neither, but I did find a magnificent cloud that looked like a very colorful tornado. I knew that it was possible to take a vertical panoramic photo with the iPhone, but I hadn’t found a suitable subject before. 
If I hadn’t stopped for coffee and a muffin I might have caught the crane family heading out, but not this day. Still, a good start to the day…
At Bayport you have a choice. You can be out in the park area with just the setting sun to focus on, or you can park in the other lot and peek at the sunset through the palms. For some reason I felt more like peeking. Just me and the camera…
I went out for a Bayport sunrise the other day and it was pretty, but too cold. I know you must be getting tired of hearing me say that. But it was almost a relief that the above picture was as pretty as it got and I could stay in the car. I have taken a picture of the sign that they have posted there before, but I never used it. It looks like they are finally going to redo the fishing pier. 
I’ve taken a lot of reflected sunrise photos at Bayport, I love the way all the channel markers sometimes look to be different colors and almost lit up in the morning light. Not knowing anything about boating I had no idea what the markers actually indicated. Now I see that it must be water depth because in all my trips to Bayport, for both sunrises and sunsets, I’ve never seen the water level be low enough for this sand bar to show. 
Back in the yard this little bird was out there, teasing me, landing just long enough for me to find him with the camera but flitting off a few feet away before I could focus. This was the best I could do. Merlin says it’s a Yellow-rumped Warbler. I’ve probably seen all these little birds before, but finding them in the camera’s view finder is like looking through binoculars. Now I actually see them.
And the cranes were back out there last night. They seem to have abandoned the mound that they worked so hard to build. Unless of course this was a different pair. When I see Sandhill cranes around the neighborhood they seem to always be in pairs lately. But what has struck me is that at least one of the pair looks to be on the small side. The younger birds setting up housekeeping I guess. This pair was out there on the original nesting spot from last year, making themselves at home. At least I hope that’s what was going on…