Slideshow: Sunrise at Brazos Bend State Park

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I met up with a fellow Flickr friend at Brazos Bend State Park this past weekend. There were a few others invited but they were either out of town or had other engagements…;-). I hated getting up at 4AM to leave by 4:30 for the hour drive down, but once I got moving I was OK. The park has an Early Bird Photography list that allows visitors with an annual Texas State Parks Pass to call ahead of time and get the gate code for access to the park before normal opening times.

We got to the pier at 40 Acre Lake around 5:30 and began to get set up. The air was hot and still and the bugs a little more fierce than I recalled from previous visits. Since I was going to be shooting landscapes, I chose to use my Canon 5D Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM lens. I had hoped for some fog, but it was a perfectly clear morning on the lake. There weren’t many clouds to provide much drama, but it was a good shoot none the less.

A little after the sun was risen, we decided to walk the 40 Acre Lake trail to see what was moving about. I switched lenses to my EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM and took a few more shots of the sunrise as it crested the tree line.

As I gathered up my gear to move on, I was startled by a very large gator sleeping just at the end of the pier beside me that provided a unique photo perspective. I don’t know if he had been there all along in the darkness or if he had swam out to start catching the warming rays of the sun.

For the most part, I found my usual subjects moving about. The yellow crowned night herons, alligators, ibis, and egrets. There was another large group of photographers out as well and they had most of the animals already agitated by the time we got to them. I added a 1.4x extender so that I could have a better chance at getting some good shots. I was able to catch a quick shot of a Great Blue Heron on the bank before he flew off and I also got some shots of the Little Blue Heron as well.

I came across another Little Blue Heron fishing for tadpoles and a sleepy looking yellow crowned night heron. The Red Winged Blackbirds were out singing and hunting and there were a few green herons out too.

Later I caught a glimpse of a Great Blue Heron in the top of a tree and decided to try a shot even though I thought it was too far away. I am very pleased with the image quality of the 5D Mark II. Even extremely cropped, the image was better that I think I would have got with the extra reach of the 50D and the same lens/extender combination.

I still did not try panning with the 100-400 lens and extender because of the difficulty maintaining manual focus on a moving target with the 1.4x extender attached. I missed two opportunities of capturing a green heron flying by as well as some whistling ducks flying out of their roost. I settled for one sitting on a bird box instead.

I took a few close up shots of some wild flowers in the early morning sun light and around 8:30AM we called it a morning and I went home to eat a little breakfast, take a shower, and get in a morning nap.

The one that got away: I missed getting a shot of a Barred Owl being scolded away by a couple of large crows. I didn’t trust my eyes at first and by the time I was sure, I wasn’t able to get set up again. Oh well, at least I know of a place I might be able to catch one again.

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Gallery: Sunrise at Brazos Bend State Park

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