Pic of the Day

  Clark’s Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii – Bear River Migratory Bird Sanctuary; Brigham, Utah:  I would have to say that Bear River MBS is the best place I have ever been to see and photograph Clark’s Grebe.  I came across this Clark’s as I was making my last round through the refuge for the day.  The sun was literally setting on the peaks of the mountains to the west,  and I had only a few seconds of the golden evening light left to shoot when I saw this bird.  The grebe was floating on water that was so clam that it gave a near perfect reflections.  I found the serenity of the scene incredibly beautiful and rushed to get a shot before the orange light of sunset was gone. 

     In a flash (no pun intended), I had the camera trained on the grebe and began shooting.  I got one burst of images before the smooth watery surface was broken by another grebe surfacing with an offering of fish to its mate.   No sooner had I made the image the sun dropped below the western peaks, and the warm orange light was gone.  The activity continued as the male kept catching fish for its mate, but the was light gone, and shutter speeds were too slow to shoot.  So, I put my camera away and enjoyed the scene before me, taking the time to do some real bird watching. 

Both Images:  Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/1,000 sec. @ 5.6