Sunset at Marl Bed Flats, 4/7/2017

Marl Bed Flats at Sunset

On April 7, I visited Marl Bed Flats to view the sunset. I also wanted to see what shorebirds might be present, and a number of them flew in to the area right at dusk (about 100 Least Sandpipers, several dowitchers and yellowlegs, 2 Stilt Sandpipers, and about 5 Black-necked Stilts). But the sunset turned out to be the highlight of the evening.  We don't have anything resembling topography here in Central Florida, and the highest point in this whole park may be only about 5 ft above sea level (Lake Jesup is below 3 ft about sea level). So to make a sunset interesting, you have to use trees. There's a row of trees marking the "trail" out int he flats, so I decided to use those trees for the foreground.

Marl Bed Flats at Sunset

Before sunset, I played around with photographing solitary trees in the flats--one alive and one dead. It gave me a sense of solitude that mirrored my own experience out there. There was no one within perhaps 2 miles of me that evening.

Marl Bed Flats

Marl Bed Flats