THE HUNT IS OVER, THE STALKING BEGINS

So, I'm out at River Road Park the other day, not sure what to expect, but I wanted to shoot and it became a matter of whatever crosses my path...well, that's what I shoot.

I've never been to River Road Park. From the road, River Road, it doesn't look like much of a park. Therefore, I wasn't expecting much. And was I surprised. Once I got out of the parking lot and past the tree line, I was in heaven. Another world that had completely escaped me. I've been in Fredericksburg for nine years now and passed this park countless times and I can't believe that I let it slip by.

There's this beautiful sandy beach. Natural beach, which is so important to those with an appreciation of nature. The river is calm and quiet, filled with fly fishermen. I didn't even know fly fishermen existed in Fredericksburg - I really do need to get out more.

I walked down the beach, away from the fishermen, just taking all of this in. When I couldn't walk anymore (unless I wanted to walk on water and just don't have that ability), I find this crane in the river, just hanging out. Hey, it's a bird, it's a crane, I'm gonna shoot.

It was quite an entertaining morning. It paced through the river, fished, fed, flew.
I spent a little over an hour with this creature and over two gig of card space. That's a lot of shots.

Excited about this little adventure, that evening I went online to find out what type of crane this was. To my surprise, I found my blue heron. Okay, it wasn't blue, not like the blue I've seen of other blue herons, so I just figure it was some common water bird. It obviously was a young bird.

With that, I share my morning with you. The hunt is over, the stalking begins. I'll be hanging out at River Road Park for some time. I believe it will be one of my favorite places to visit.

And thanks to the Patch reader who directed me to this gem of a place.

Happy Shooting!
Kerri

www.MagpiStudios.com