Fourth Morning
Weather - Light rain, 70F, SW winds 6mph
Sunrise - 5:45am
Set alarm for 4:00am yet again. So the good news is it’s only a light rain. I purchased a green poncho for today’s visit, good to keep the camera dry and a better color than my bright yellow raincoat.
I arrive about 5:10am. We got very heavy rains and wind the night before, but luckily it appears inside the blind is dry. I decide to leave the poncho on because the hood with draw-strings is hiding more of my face and the sides are hiding more area of my arms. Good thing it’s a little cooler than its been.
The cloudy skies are making it darker than other days. Being dark when I arrive makes it difficult to set up the camera. I get the camera on the tripod but getting the nest box in frame takes a bit of adjusting. If I have it on single shot auto I can take a picture, it will have a longer shutter speed, allowing enough light in to get a picture. I have to then view the picture to see if I have the box in frame. Looking at the picture I see one of the grasses has blown in the wind and is now blocking part of my view. I don’t want to take a chance of the camera trying to focus on that in the foreground, rather than the box in the background. So now I have to move the tripod over to the left and start the process over.
It’s 5:37am, I’m messing with the camera and I see her exit the box. I wasn’t able to get the shot of her leaving. Darn.
Now, it’s a matter of waiting for her to return. When will that be and are there ducklings in there, waiting for the call to come out. It’s quiet, I’m waiting. I was thinking while waiting (not much else to do) - since it is cooler this morning maybe she will not stay out so long. My assumption was correct - she retuned at 7:09am. This I was able to get pictures of.
I decided to wait a bit longer to make sure she wasn’t going to leave again and call them out. I waited another 45 minutes, left at 8:00am.
I gathered info from today’s visit - she left at her regular time and she didn’t appear to notice me, otherwise she would not have flown back in. She flew in from the right, not the lake side; good to know.
Maybe tomorrow will be THE DAY.
She left the nest box at 5:37am and returns at 7:09am.
I stayed approximately 3 hours.
