First light on Lake Pearson

Day two of the high country trip saw an early start (5.30am!) to try to catch the sun as it hit the shores of Lake Pearson. After first grabbing some earlier shots from above the road, we headed further towards the lake shore, which itself was veiled by a thick layer of alpine mist. The remnants of this can be seen on the left of the picture, hugging low over the water, as we look south east towards Purple Hill and Flock Hill.

Being a bit of an ornithologist I was really keen to see if I could spot some Great Crested Grebes on the lake. Whilst I am used to regular sightings of them near home on the Kaituna River (complete with their babies riding on their backs) I've yet to see them in the high country lakes, their more commonly known habitat. At least until sunday that is.

I was lucky enough to watch a mating pair of grebes build a floating nest under a willow tree. Each bird would take it in turns to dive to the lake bed and pluck willow for assembling their love pad. It was great to watch - if not uncomfortable, being wrapped around a willow branch hanging low over the water, paranoid about dropping my gear into the drink...

Now back home on the peninsula, it's time for me to capture some more local shots. Lake Ellesmere's shore is even further out now, so I feel a bit of island hopping coming on amongst the mud flats...

In the meantime, in case you missed it, here's the backblip from Castle Hill last night (in all it's lavender sky glory...): Feel the stones