Morning Run and Beautiful San Juan Island Sunset

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Today I decided to start my day with a run and the sun was bright in the sky.  I was excited to get out and enjoy the fresh air.  Guinness and I arrived at the trail head as always and a bit of stretching then off on the trail.  It was just a wonderful time to be on the trail.  I cannot say that my legs were ready for the morning run, but they got me through. 

As I climbed the back side of this, oh so fun to jog up, hill.  When I got to the top in the open grassland there was a fox in total hunting mode.  I stuck around for a bit and watched but moved on so not to disturb it efforts.  

The day was blue with nice big white clouds.  The water was very calm and hardly a breeze in the air.  As I finished my run I got a glimpse of one of the Red Tailed Hawks I have been watching.  It was perched high in a fir tree enjoying the sun.  

It was a great morning to get outside.  I owe the thanks to a friend that said they were getting up around 5am for a run.   I laughed and said I will make it out by 9am.

After cleaning up and eating lunch I headed back out with my bird watching gear.  When I arrived Monika's car was parked where I usually scope out the Red Tailed Hawks.  She was no where in sight and was off taking photos of the many Meadowlarks we have been seeing.  Check out her blog to see images. http://orcawatcher.blogspot.com/

I set up my gear and one of the really light morph Red Tails was perched in the same tree from the mornings run.  Monika soon arrived back at the car and we both were enjoying the view. Then the Red Tail took flight flying right over the car.  Monika I am sure got some great shots. The hawk made a big loop and returned to its perch.  It took flight again and we followed in the direction it disappeared.  As we head toward the lighthouse we saw another Red Tail.  It was majestically perch on top of a rock on a step slope.  As luck with have it.  It flew right over us and I cannot wait to see Monika's photos.  Soon after we returned to Monika's car and went our own ways.

I headed out the the West Side of San Juan Island to catch the sun set.  When I arrived it was warm and the sum was still high in the sky.  I spied a view of a River Otter moving around in the kelp bed below.  I got to watch it for about 15 minutes before it decided to move on.  While waiting for the sun to drop I laid back and took a nice nap in the sun.  It sure was a rough day. As I woke and took a look around there was a Stellar Sea Lion heading south along the shore. I could see Dall's Porpoise in the distance moving along at a nice viewable pace.  

The sun made its way slowly and as it tucked behind the clouds the temperature started to fall fast.  It was a nice sunset and I was happy to be apart of it.

This a beautiful place to live.  If you ever have a chance to visit, I would jump on it.

Here are few pictures I took from the day.



You can see the fox in the tall grass.

Nice view of the calm water and blue sky.

Ahh the self portrait as I await the setting of the sun.

The sun drops behind the clouds.

Not a bad view.

More.

The final image.  Not too bad!

Well I hope that all of you have enjoyed the images and a bit of what I had to say.

Anyway! Hope everyone is doing well.

Comments

BuckMountain said…
Love your pictures but I'd like to be able to click on them and see a larger version. Monika's let you do that and it's frustrating not to be to see all the detail.

We fell in love with the islands on a vacation trip 4 years ago and bought land on Orcas intending to move there when we retire. Only 5 months to go! Coming out March 5th to look for a place to live while the house is built.

Ron
February 18, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Jason said…
Hum. The only image on yesterdays post that does not enlarge should be the fox. The rest all enlarge fine.
February 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
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