Beautiful Saturday morning

I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. My mind was wide awake and the idea of going out and maybe even seeing the sunrise seemed like a good idea :). I was still high from seeing bald eagles at Barr Lake park last week (Bald Eagles on Barr Lake), so I decided to give it another try. Even without bird watching, this park is a great place to spend a few hours and even see some amazing reflections (Spring Close-ups and reflections) even though now there are no reflections to see :(. It didn't take long to get to the park and I realized that I was just in time for the sun starting its journey around the world...

 

While I walked towards the shore, I discovered that I wasn't alone, but rather surrounded by thousands of geese, barraging above my head (and squawking loudly, probably calling for the sun to warm them up after freezing night).

The colors and reflection of the sky was absolutely stunning. Even though the water level was very low, it looked like liquid gold flowing over the sand...

A huge flock of geese flew above my head again... It was quite unusual to see so many birds at once. And I think I now understand better why Hitchcock created his Birds... He must have been scared of them one day ;)

The clouds were painted in watercolor on the sky. At this point, all I wanted was for the sun not to rise and destroy all this beauty, so I could stay here forever and just enjoy watching slow moving clouds all weekend...

I walked along the dry lake bed and looked for bald eagles. And soon I found four of them perching on branches far away. I guess it was time for breakfast, because one by one they all took off and disappeared behind the trees. But one juvenile eagle circled back and landed in the tree to sit on the branch for 5 minutes before heading off to join his comrades...

The geese were everywhere... on the shore... on the water... in the air... and the colors still remained warm and soothing. What a morning it was...

With no eagles to look for, I decided to drive around and look at the other end of the lake, so I returned back to the car where I found some prairie dogs looking around and up... probably to watch the geese flying?

I stopped at the visitor center and walked toward the lake and was again stunned by the huge endless field of sand. Can you believe that all this sand usually is under water? I walked toward the water and again couldn't believe that there was no water where there was usually plenty...

I walked along the water line and turned around to head toward the trail. When I was almost there, I saw another huge flock of birds pecking at the sand... There were thousands of them and it looked completely weird to be so close to them...

As I turned to leave, something happened and all these geese took off and rose up with a loud noise... The sky was full of wings, beaks and tails... I had never seen anything like this before, so I just stood there with my jaw dropped.

It took them less than a minute to disappear somewhere... Just a moment before, this entire sandy beach was filled with birds, and now there was nothing there... Not on the sand, nor in the air. It happened so quickly that for a second I thought I dreamed them.

I walked along the trail and was finally rewarded for my long walk. Two bald eagles, perched on the branch of a tall tree, were just a few hundred yards away...

As I got closer, I spotted a couple of deer hiding in the bushes. It was a pleasant encounter :)

A gorgeous bird, isn't it?

I still couldn't believe that I was surrounded by a waterless lake. This fallen tree is usually half submerged in water... And today it was half a mile from the shoreline... Unbelievable...

It was a really nice morning hike around and in the lake. Hmm... in the lake sounds crazy, but how else can I describe the feeling of walking on the bottom of a lake where you can usually only swim?

The pictures were taken on November 23, 2024