It has been a while since I did a photography trip with my good friend Marc Duiker. The last time we went to Iceland, see here, but usually we go to old abandoned buildings to do some urban exploring or urbex for short. 

I have been fascinated with aerial photography, not satellite, but real aerial photography. This was further fuelled by a hot air balloon trip I made years ago. However due to the limitations, obviously, I did not pursue it further.

Last Monday evening it was nice summer evening with exceptional yellow light, probably due to the humid air. So I could not resist to get my gear out in search of the Purple Heron. I have spotted at least one here (while other people have spotted several).

After 5 days in San Francisco it was time to pack and head towards Yosemite National Park. The drive it self was quite boring, but when entering the park and especially Yosemite Valley we were amazed. The grand wild river, the landscape and the mighty El Capitan. That huge monolith rock formation is just amazing!

After the road trip to Santa Cruz the weather changed and the sun was replaced by mist and rain. A perfect time to visit the nearby Redwood Regional Park. We hiked along a nice trail and in the forest forgot about the not so great weather.

I could not resist the next day after my previous visit, see previous post, to go back to the "Groene Jonker" with sunny weather at sunset. Although the bird activity was low, I still managed to get some cool "yellow sunset" shots.

The last time I visited "Groene Jonker" it was sunny and quite warm weather. This time around it was grey, windy and not so warm. In the end there was still enough to see and photograph. Especially the numerous aquatic birds that were present. With my favourite of the day being the "Eurasian spoonbill" and the "Ruff".

What to do with a week of vacation? That was our question, go to a city here in Europe, because time is limited or just something else. Well even though the long journey we decided to go to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. 

Recently I discovered (pointed out to me by Leo Durghorn) a "newly" developed nature reserve near where I live. This used to be agricultural and farming area that is now "given back to nature" with the intent to serve as a retreat for (water)birds.