Today started in line with the old sailor’s rhyme: Red in the Morning, Sailor take Warning! Shortly after sunrise dark dreary clouds moved into the Northland. While the open skies out over Lake Superior made for a dramatic sunrise, within 30 minutes after sunrise the color of the world seemed to lock down. Over the course of the morning, the skies darkened further. Normally this presents a low light challenge for a bird photographer. Our feathered friends tend to move around quickly, which requires a short shutter speed. However, later in the afternoon I headed out with my camera. During mid Summer with food plentiful, birds are well normally well fed. The end result is birds often “slow down”. Switching to aperture priority will work well if one is able to find lethargic birds! Given the ugly sky, if the photographer can find nice green leaf backgrounds the end result photographs can be quite nice … just don’t include the sky in your photo framing!

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Merganser Morning (common merganser hen and chicks at sunrise)

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Belted Kingfisher

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White-Breasted Nuthatch