Sunrise, September 29

I have to say, it's a lot easier getting up at 6:15 to watch the sunrise than it was to get up at 4:30 this summer.  The sun rose this week at 7:01 a.m. and it was around 40 degrees outside.  The sky was mostly clear with just a few wispy clouds in the sky.  I went to Beaver Bay where the Beaver River flows into Lake Superior.

It soon becomes apparent where the sun is going to come up

Duck? Loon?

Slowly the sun begins to reflect off the lake

It got bright quickly

The Beaver River and the Highway 61 bridge

I've seen lots of mushrooms growing on trees, but never bright orange ones

It grew right around the smaller twigs

The dew was still on the trees, and as I walked through brush my pants grew increasingly damp

This plant reminds me of Christmas

As I was walking through the brush, I came to a small clearing and heard a disturbance nearby.  A blue heron flew out in front of me.

It quickly turned . . .

 . . . and was gone before I could get a clear picture of it.

I headed away from a clear when I heard a loud splash, as if someone had dropped a rock into the river.  I went back to the river's edge where this beaver was swimming past.

Yeah, I know it's hard to see.  And did you notice the duck in the background?

Then I heard the splash again--it was the beaver diving under the water!

The beaver resurfaced.  It you look closely, you can see its teeth.

Then there were two

I walked along the shore, following the beavers as they swam along, but pretty soon I lost track of them and they were gone.

So I watched these three ducks for a bit instead.  What kind of ducks are gray with reddish brown heads?

And looked back at the river . . .