Lake Herrick 9-29-21

I love days when I take my son to work and can take some time to go to Lake Herrick. It is really pretty in the mornings, even without the dramatic sunrise. One of the pleasures of Lake Herrick is that wildlife. There are plenty of birds and I've seen snakes (no photos, unfortunately), squirrels, chipmunks, turtles, spiders and other insects. Yesterday morning, though, I had a very unusual pleasure. As I stood on one of the docks watching the sun rise and enjoying the cool morning air, I noticed a bunch of birds flying about. These were small birds, possibly swallows, that were flying low over the water and scooping up either small fish or, more likely, water insects. It was very impressive. I was able to get some photos, though they are not extremely clear, I still like them.

I also got a couple of pictures of geese flying overhead. I find geese to be so graceful.

On the way out of the park, while crossing the long bridge, I had two birds, which I now believe to be Eastern Phoebes, who kept posing on the rail top. I never got really close, but I was able to get some decent photos with my long lense.

I also found a playful squirrel who posed for me before running off up the tree. I did see a chipmunk, but was not able to get a photo of it since it was running through the woods.

I could not make it through without getting some photos of flowers. The yellow flower was in the woods and the orange flower was growing along the edge of the lake.

The final photos I took were of the lake in general as the sun rose. I will not bore you with all of them, since many of them look very much alike, but here are a few of them

The final photos I am going to share are actually from a visit to this lake on the 21st of September. Lake Herrick has a stork that lives there. Sometimes the stork hides or is elsewhere (like yesterday morning), but on the 21st, it was on the opposite side of the lake from the dock. As I lifted my camera up, the stork took off and flew away. I was able to get some not so great photos but I will share them with you anyway.

If any of you ever get the visit Lake Herrick in the area of the UGA Intermural Fields off of College Station Road, I highly recommend it. I usually go to the back and turn in between the practice field and the tennis courts and follow it down to park right by the board walk entrance. Mornings are amazing there and it's a great way to start your day.