If I seem to have a lot of dawn and early light shots from my last trip to the Space Coast Birding Festival you can blame it on the realities of actually working the festivals, as opposed to attending the festivals. If I want any time in the field, I have to take it before the festival and the vendor area opens for the day. That means eating breakfast on the move (nothing so sustaining in the morning as a Cliff Bar breakfast) and being in the field or on the refuge (Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in this case) by first light.

I posted a Pelican flyover image a few days ago that was taken at this same stop. I mentioned then that I was photographing White Ibis in the first direct sun of a very early morning. This is one of those shots. There was so much yellow light in the reflected light from the surface of the water that I had to tone it down in Lightroom.

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 500. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.