NIagara River under Moon and VenusBird Island Pier is open again! In one of my summer posts I lamented what a shame it was that the Bird Island Pier remained closed beyond Piece Bridge. And a shame it surely was. Now the irony was in the timing.

A few weeks later I was looking around the Internet to find out more about the future fate of the pier. It did not take me long and I stumbled upon an article in Buffalo News proclaiming the pier would re-open on August 12, 2013, after three long years of being cut short. That was in the past at that point, a day after my last visit.

So back I went to enjoy this wonderful walk in Buffalo. Walking the pier between Black Rock Canal and the mighty Niagara River is always a great and refreshing experience. A fresh breeze, the sound of the river, wonderful sunset views, and if you walk far enough, great views of the city of Buffalo.

This evening, I arrived too late to walk the whole length and still have some color left in the sky but it was enough to celebrate the re-opening. As I walked past the point of closure under the Peace Bridge it really felt special. I only continued another 10 minutes or so and set up to document the regained access.

Bird Island Pier under Crescent Moon and VenusSunset, moon, Venus, Bird Island Pier, Black Rock Canal, Niagara River, Lake Erie, all in One! And the added bonus provided by nature's generosity? The crescent moon was to the southwest allowing me to get photos of it along with the sunset colors, as well as aligned with the pier! And as if that was not enough, Venus was accompanying moon this evening and posed for my photographs too! What an evening!

To close things off, I looked back a few times on my walk back and noticed that both the moon and Venus descended closer to the horizon to fit nicely under Peace Bridge. While the color in the sky was gone by that time, I could not resist this unique take on a photo I've taken so many times!

So what is left? Well, I still have not walked the full length of the pier since it reopened and will need to fix that soon before something prompts authorities to close it again.

Peace Bridge, Moon, and VenusA special occasion take on Peace Bridge at Night

Have fun at your favorite places!

Equipment used: Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens, Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards, Nikon Capture NX2

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it!