“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
Marcus Aurelius -Meditations

Had a good time birding in the Blue Ridge Mountains yesterday…
Because Isaac & I like to make the most of every second of sunlight, we set out at 2:30 am to arrive early enough to start the day at sunrise.

The weather was not ideal for a 4hr road trip, with rain and dense fog making it a challenge to drive in the dark through those winding curves.
The higher we climbed, the thicker the fog became, dropping visibility down to about 3ft at times!
Finally we ascended high enough to break through the mist and the skies became a clear blue with growing orange light in the east.
Although it was cold (in the 30s) it was well worth the time to stop on a ridge to step outside to watch the sun come up over what looked like an ocean or glacier field of clouds.
Truly an incredible sight well worth getting up early for 🙂

At the end of the day it was honestly a tough decision to set off to the east to return to the Raleigh area.
I did not want to watch those blue peaks receding in the rear view mirror, but my heart & responsibility calls me elsewhere in this season of life.
Still, leaving the mountains behind always makes me immediately homesick for a place I’ve never lived since I’ve dwelled primarily in suburban flat-land for most of my life.
A peculiar feeling for sure!
Someday I hope to change that & wake up to a cloud deck at my feet every morning 🙂

And the birds? Oh yes we found a ton of beautiful species out there which will be of use for my guests needs on future trips.
We snapped off several great shots of some tough to find warblers and even managed to tick off a rare species for good measure.
A kick ass day of birding!
More to come on that soon on bestlifebirding.com