Thanks so much Chris! So encouraging.

We saw great blue herons and night herons, both wading and looking for breakfast. At the south end, there were also a lot of mallards and killdeer, but more than a hundred yards away was too far for photos. It was a beautiful day and we left the refuge at around 7 am.

Sometimes dawn lighting during blue hour is more beautiful than the sunrise, so we're consistent about getting out to the refuge about a half hour before the sun is up. And the time passed so quickly. I loved the evening primrose on the hiking trail just past the first pond.

Thanks for the challenge, Rae! My inspirations: 1 LOVE@HOME 4 circles 8 sidewalk garden 9 flowers 11 HAPPINESS BLOOMS 12 embroidered flowers

When that bunny looked at me, I could feel his appreciation for my treats, and he didn't leave when I went off to get my spinal injections. As we got back and saw a huge plume of smoke to the west, we knew our summer had changed. Now our friends were evacuated and the jeep was covered in ash.

On Wednesday the sunrise was reds and pinks. We peered over the reeds and I got some photos, but it was quite a challenge. With fewer birds, the odds were even less, that we'd be lucky and find a less dense patch of reeds. I dialed back on the hiking, after some back issues.

The sunrise was more pink than my camera showed, but I decided to just try to remember that all the yellows were actually red orange. I just snapped shots of segments of the sky without the aid of a tripod and a leveler. Right then I wanted to remember that sky. It was all around us.

Thanks Anke for the challenge. I think sometimes fancy wordart might not quite fit, as in this case. So I went with something subdued. ;)

On Monday, knowing that millions of birds had been lost to the deadly avian flu, we didn't expect much. And the reeds were so tall we'd only see glimpses of the waterways. To our surprise, there were the most great blue and night herons we'd ever seen, plus a bunch of blackbirds.

I tried taking photos of the great blue herons through the thick tall reeds, and some scenic views, where I held my camera as far above my head as I could. It was a lot of hit and miss, because the camera would often try to focus on the cattails and the herons would be a blur.

They were perched far enough apart not to compete for the same fish, on the other side of the water. The yellow-headed blackbird was about six feet to the left of the right heron. They were about 100 yards away, at least a 3 1/2 minute walk. I spotted them because nothing else was white.

Thank you Sonja for the challenge and the template.

I lost count of how many great blue herons we saw, and of how many night herons we saw. The only meaningful number was one, for the lone sandhill crane on the other side of the south lake, probably left behind in April. We hadn't gone far, when we agreed it was a good day to be at the refuge.

We'd take a few photos and move closer, hoping they'd stay. One flew, but the other one stayed and kept calling until we moved on. We didn't know why he kept calling, but he stayed much longer than we expected and finally we were concerned we might have been causing stress.

Thanks for the challenge, Vicky! I used two HAPS freebies, one from last week and one from this week, that comes out tonight. So this is sort of an ad for the newsletter. :)

When we called the hotel from the Alamosa refuge, Carol said our room would be later because of high season. I totally enjoyed the waves of color in the fields, a butterfly and a dragonfly. But it got harder to take our time when you spotted two golden eagles just a little farther down the road.

I really wanted to go to Monte Vista while we waited for our room, but when I got there I was very low on energy. We could see there were not many birds, but it was still my happy place and right away we saw a pair of great blue herons, which we hadn't seen in a long time. A quick trip.

I loved to watch the tiny red baby coots, but in July they had become juveniles. I loved seeing that they were still with their parents.

It was raining early, so we waited until it stopped to leave for the refuge.We got there at 6am, and there was a sliver of soft sunrise. We didn't see many birds, although we could hear them. I finally got a photo of one of those flocks of blackbirds, and watched one that I think was scolding...

Inspired by Jen's Ocean Dreams Bundle and her birthday celebration!