The fading light

Sunsets are always a special time to take pictures. The changing hues of the sky, the warm light, the long shadows all add another dimension to pictures. But it is all to fleeting as the sun’s disk slips below the horizon. In the fading light the shadows deepen, the sky turns deep indigo and the first stars appear.

I made my last trip of the season to the Isenberg Crane Reserve to watch a sunset arrival of the sandhill cranes. I arrived a little more than an hour before sunset to catch the first arrivals of cranes for their evening roost.

There were not many cranes that arrived, although thousands of geese passed over the wetlands before me. As the sunlight faded a stragglers began to arrive settling into the ponds for the evening. A few scattered clouds hovered near Mount Diablo as the sun sank down. The sky turned a brilliant red as twilight approached and the last few cranes landed.

My three sunset trips were the most I’ve made in any season. Isenberg has graced me with many wondrous sights and tonights sunset was the icing on the cake for the arrival season.

I have one more trip left to Isenberg before the year’s end as I head to the wetlands for a chilly dawn launch in December.