Back to Clearlake Part One

After Lenore saw my last batch of images from Clearlake she really wanted to go. Over the Labor Day weekend we decided at the last moment to go. So where do you think you could find me at four thirty in the morning? I was lashing Lenore's kayak next to mine on the top of the pick up. We left the house just past five thirty and we were on the lake just before sunrise. It was an incredibly calm day with just the faintest of breezes. Just perfect for kayaking! When the sun arose as we were paddling out towards the nesting colony of Western Grebes. You have to be very careful not to get too close or they will abandon their nests and the gulls will swoop in and eat the eggs. So we quietly paddled out for a short visit and then turned around and headed back up the slough. We were really lucky to not only see a lot of grebes but we saw one Clark's Grebe swimming by as well. They look a lot alike. The main difference being that the Clark's Grebes have a white face. There is no black around the eye. While the grebes were really calm the ducks and White Pelicans were not. They would take off if you were less than a hundred feet from them. Still we had a great time watching them. God's blessings, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens,Bogen 3055 Ballhead with a custom camera support. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop and a shutter speed varied. All photography was done from a Ultimate 14.5 Native Watercraft Kayak If you are interested in building a custom camera support for a canoe or a kayak please check out my blog on it at http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html I just got an email from my publisher. My book "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography is being shipped to bookstores this week for release on Sept.11th. That's pretty exciting.Look for it at amazon and other fine book seller's it would make a great gift for a photographer or a birder wanting to photograph birds in their yard.