Farewell to February @ Armand Bayou

I spent this past Saturday on a day-trip to Armand Bayou Nature Preserve.  I'd let the winter get away from me without a visit.  The day was dark with heavy clouds, threatening rain.  The kind of day where outstanding photographers leave their camera gear at home, knowing there isn't enough light to get good photos.

But I like the surprise of cloudy, birdy days.  And so I took a lot of photos with my aperture wide open, no depth of field, and some surprising "gets" of birds doing what birds do.  I'll post a series of photos this week on some of my favorite shots.

Today's photos are low-light overviews of this lovely park and the sunless day.

The wooded hiking trail gives multiple views of the bayou.  Note the spec in the sky is an Osprey, a most gifted fisherman (details to come this week):

An Osprey on distant snag:

The woods were dark and filled with American Robins and Cedar Waxwings (details to come this week):

This photo of a Cedar Waxwing, with no Photoshop development, gives you a feel for the darkness of the day. It also demonstrates the ability of Photoshop to " darkroom develop" the photo, as with the above Robin:

While I watched the Robins and Waxwings, this Yellow-rumped Warbler was watching me:

This park works hard on prairie grass restoration, including a recent prescribed burn:

Happy Birthday J.S.  :-)