I laid in my bed this morning knowing that the temperature outside was in the low 50's.  It was far from the typical 75 degree mornings we have had over the last few months.  Part of me didn't want to get up but I knew that the golden hour was coming and the tide was perfect for some great photography in the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  

I arrived at the gate around 7:05 unfortunately the golden hour was already in progress and I had to move quickly to get to my favorite spot.  There were many White Pelicans with the usual gang of egrets stabbing at the shallow water with what appeared to be a smile on their faces.  The steam was coming off the warm water which helped put together the image that I was looking for to define the morning.  

I took a few shots of the local birds posing for my camera in ways that you would think that they were trained to do.  I was shooting with my Nikon D300 with a 70 to 400mm and 1.4x tele convertor.   I decided that this morning I was going to capture the true feel of santurary and put my 14 to 28mm on my Nikon D3S and took in the beauty of the bayou of birds and mist with the sunlit mangroves in the background.  

Believe it or not the no-see-ums were relentless this morning.  I had figured that it would be too cool for them and forthwent my usual body bath of bug spray to prevent their feast.  I got into my car and moved to my next spot that was not my unusual favorite but this morning this shot was perfect!   Although the shot was almost into the sun it still captured the mood of the morning.  

On my way out I was surprised twice by otters that caught my eye but were too quick for me to get off a shot.  Maybe next time!

Golden Dawn