Silly Saturday ...

... Minsi Lake kayaking.

Today's weather was simply perfect ... lots of sunshine and temps in the mid 80's ... and not too humid.  Like I said ... perfect.

That said ... we gathered our kayaking equipment, packed up lunch and headed up to Minsi Lake to spend the day enjoying this perfect day.

I could have easily put together a collage as I took lots of pictures of a myriad of things.  But in the interest of time I've gone with this beautiful great-blue heron.   We surprised each other as we were out in the kayak.  We were sitting (in the kayak) close by the shore when he/she came around the corner not realizing we were there!  I hardly had time to point the camera at him/her as he/she flew by ... very closely I might add.  He was surprised to see us there and tried flying in to some trees lining the lake but misjudged in his/her panic.  But all worked out as he/she recovered before flying off in the other direction ... all was okay.  But I felt bad in startling him/her.  To appreciate the size of these birds keep in mind the great blue is the largest heron in North America, standing close to five feet tall, with a wingspan of up to 6.5 feet. Please have a look full screen.

We also saw both a juvenile bald eagle and an adult ... both up in the trees.  And there was also some gorgeous ospreys flying overhead.  

We had a great day out before returning home for the rest of the day ...  I was quite tired by all the exercise and fresh air.