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When I was looking for something to post on flickr the other morning, I ended up flipping back through the archives to a pre-dawn trip I took to Limantour Spit in Point Reyes National Seashore that I had forgotten about. This was the last trip I took with the D50 as my primary (read: only) camera. Later that week my D90 arrived, and I spent some time trying it out at a few locations, leaving these unsorted in the archives.
All in all, this wasn't a super-productive trip, but it was a gorgeous morning with clear skies for the sunrise. I spent attempted to photograph sanderlings with the first rays coming over the horizon, but I still need to go through those images. Soon thereafter, I headed back towards the other side of the dunes to explore some of the coastal scrub.
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I was also treated to a group of turkey vultures sunning themselves in the early light while following the trail. They're a pretty ugly species, but it sort of fits well with their there important ecological role of scavenging.
![Turkey Vultures at Limantour Spit](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u3Jx1a8S4RUVRpC9kxRBPZbakg2yOR5bO-D3-KpmrhGsjPMtVOHodk3B7-9zgYygqvJMTw-3zN5kcQ2qo8VEiEJ78FugmHRI5uVhqTMLo668mjqAXKN7UVO13tATadBTM=s0-d)
After wandering along the backside of the dunes during most of the good morning light without finding too much else, I decided to head back to the trailhead and then follow the Muddy Hollow trail back along the side of the salt marsh. The tide was very high that morning, giving a really nice flooded marsh plain -- which was quite stunning in the early light (see the top shot of this post). I also encountered some lovely song-birds in the bushes along the marsh edge, including this savannah sparrow.
![Savannah Sparrow](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vN9m3tQKo0VmPe0z0tEh_V_ZqI__guHDL2Ayn1mn9e7Kri1CBG1xgbW1yapDZDVw9XK7SMU9-8NXr1sYsFLAS842IwAlQdp-zPTmyHG83k-NGewRoxUABiVEKyfbj9lao=s0-d)
It posed quite nicely with those rich colors in the backdrop.