For our first blog of fall 2007, let’s head down to Steamer Lane and take a look at a couple of recent sunrises. The last two photos are from Friday morning at the Lane. Shots three and four are from yesterday, the Fall Equinox or the first day of autumn. The second shot is a cloud conference taken on West Cliff Drive back on Friday.

The weather is definitely changing here on the central coast. We had our first rain of the season on Saturday and I’ve shot the sunrise three out of the last four days. They’ve been nothing to write your Congressman about but definitely photo worthy. There was a beautiful sunset on Saturday night that closed out the summer of 2007. We’ll take a look at that season ender later in the week.

Here’s an item I ran across this week. U.S. scientists tracked a shorebird as it made a record 7,145-mile flight from Alaska to New Zealand without stopping for food or water. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center says this was the longest nonstop flight ever recorded by a bird without an iPod. This godwit was one of 16 captured by researchers in New Zealand back in early February. It was fitted with GPS and a small battery-powered satellite transmitter to track its migration. The bird, dubbed “E7,” began its record setting flight back from Alaska on August 29, flying past Hawaii, Fiji and other remote islands of the Pacific before arriving in New Zealand on September 7. During those nine days, researchers said the bird “slept’ by shutting down one side of her brain at a time. Coincidentally, I believe the same thing happened to me when I was taking my SAT’s.

The first shot on today’s blog is of some marbled godwits at sunset at Natural Bridges. They were not equipped with GPS or transmitters but all signed a release so I could legally display this photo.

So that’s it for our first blog of autumn. Later this week I’ll have all the information on the upcoming Open Studios Tour. Congratulations go out to the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders, both of whom picked up their first win of the NFL season yesterday. Both teams are now undefeated in the fall. So enjoy the birds, the sunrise clouds and the first week of the new TV season.