by hankinslawrenceimages | Feb 25, 2010 | Photo Locations
Last Sunday morning I spent another magical morning at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. I was in the area for the Springtime Made in the South show, and since the show didn’t open until 11 on Sunday morning – I had time to head out for sunrise.
I’m really glad I went out to the refuge, the sunrise was spectacular. There was a lot of fog and mist in the marsh, and some clouds in the sky. All of these combined to create wonderful colors and patterns in the marsh.
I spent the time before the sun rose, and just after it crossed the horizon photographing some of the marsh grasses near the entrance to the refuge. The colors were incredible lots of soft pinks and purples that turned to orange once the sun rose. Here are a couple of my photos of the marsh grasses.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Since the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is known for the quantity and variety of bird that winter at the refuge, I did take a few photos of the cormorants near the entrance. Here’s what I saw when I first arrived at the refuge – a tree with many cormorants in the branches. As the sunrise progressed, most of the birds woke up and flew off into the marsh.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
After most of the birds flew off, I noticed a couple of birds were still perched on the branch at the far right of the photo. In the distance, I could see the silhouettes of some of the trees with the wonderful draping of the spanish moss. From where I was standing, it looked the birds were admiring the wonderful colors of the sunrise. I just had to take a photo of the birds enjoying the sunrise.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Once the sun was up, I headed further into the refuge. I was hoping to photograph more of the Spanish Moss in the filtered light that I had seen earlier in the week. But along the way, I spotted some cattails in some wonderful golden light that I just had to stop and photograph. At this time of year, the heads of the cattails are full of fluffy seeds. The sunlight seemed to create halos around the cattails.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
I wasn’t the only photographer from the show out photographing in the marsh that morning. Dan Williams was also photographing at Savannah NWR. His The Magic of Light post describes his experiences at the marsh. Be sure to double click on Dan’s photos in the post to see the larger versions of the photos.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Jan 24, 2010 | Photo Locations
Bill and I had the opportunity to photograph a wonderful sunrise at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge yesterday morning. Bombay Hook NWR is located in Smyrna, Delaware – just outside of Dover. It’s about 100 miles from Washington, DC – a nice easy drive. We’ve been to Bombay Hook a couple of times, and we will definitely head back there again.
We photographed sunrise from at Shearness Pool. We parked at stop #4 on the Auto Tour. From this spot, you can photograph out across the marshes to where the sun is rising, and catch the light the early morning light on the pond. It’s a wonderful place.
I started out photographing some of the trees in the distance – near where the sun was going to rise. The sky was filled with wonderful soft colors.
Each year thousands of Snow Geese spend the winter at Bombay Hook NWR. In the morning, you can see them take off from the water in large groups and they seem to fill the sky. Here is one of the groups taking flight in the early morning light.
As the sun rose above the horizon, I started looking in the direction of where the early morning light would be hitting Shearness Pool. I spotted a group of marsh grasses and thought they might offer some neat photographic opportunities. It was pretty windy yesterday morning – so the grasses were continually moving. As the golden light lit them up, they looked to be dancing the early morning light and wind.
As I photographed the marsh grasses, I heard a red winged black bird nearby. In the morning at Bombay Hook there is a wonderful peaceful silence – broken only by the sound of the birds as the new day in the marsh begins – geese taking flight in large numbers, ducks and swans on the pond, songbirds starting their sounds.
After sunrise, Bill and I headed back into town for breakfast and then returned to Bombay Hook to do some exploring. We saw lots of birds as we drove around the refuge, including some spectacular bald eagles soaring through the trees. At the pond just before the Allee House I photographed a few additional marsh grasses. By then, the sun was much higher in the sky so the grasses appeared to be light tan and white. What I loved was the contrast of the light colors of the marsh grasses against the deep blues and blacks of the water in the pond.
Bombay Hook NWR is a wonderful place to photograph. I’m looking forward to visiting it in the spring when the marsh and woodland wildflowers will be in bloom. My guess is that it will be spectacular.
