Foggy mornings and blurry bird photos

The entrance to our wetlands is only a few doors from our home:

 

On many mornings for the past two weeks the humidity has been high and the temperature close to the dew point, so we have been greeted by fog, especially thick over the lake.





Too often I strive to depict the birds in side-on "field guide" poses. A feather in disarray or an errant bit of foliage can spoil such images. Fog smooths out these defects and provides a natural filter for photo effects, obliterates the background and focuses attention on the subject and its immediate surroundings.

Composition and action seem more important than the plumage details of this Great Egret:







Images such as these of a Little Blue Heron are soft and lack detail, but I find them especially pleasing to the eye:





A pair of Mottled Ducks are barely identifiable:



Poor light muddles the image of a Belted Kingfisher but makes the setting almost look like an oil painting:



Street lights, still on almost two miles to the north, burn through the fog at sunrise


Just as the fog is lifting, the sun's glare is restrained and shadows are muted. The warm color temperature permits better display of plumage details, especially that of white birds such as the White Ibis and Great Egret:





I did not see these two Red-breasted Mergansers swimming away from me until they were too far away for a decent photo, but I loved the warmth of the sun playing on the grasses of the wet meadow:



A patch of sunlight pierces the fog next to these White Ibises:



Everything is coated with dew as the fog breaks up and droplets fill the air. I don't know what kind of composite flower this may be, but it is very tiny, only about 3/4 inch (2 cm) wide:



The spiders' webs are weighed down by dewdrops:




A necklace of silk and dewdrops:









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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Gosia

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Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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