My Week…Cold blue (heron)

Sunday

The day started out cloudy and cold, but just as they predicted (for a change) the sun came out about mid-morning, and it looks beautiful out there! Nothing like sunshine on freshly fallen snow. I am late getting outside today, I have prepped the veggies and thrown them and the beef roast in the crock pot. You can’t do a blog without at least some cooking references I have found. Since I was busy in the kitchen, and it was darned cold in the apartment, I also whipped up a Johnny cake, along with making one of my scrambled omelette for breakfast.

The reason it was cold in the apartment this morning is the same as every morning, I turn the heat down to around 63 degrees at night, I sleep better in the cold. Maybe I am part bear. 😉

I am off to do a long hike in the local park near me, we’ll see what I come up with as far as photographs today.

Well, I’m home, what a great hike! Almost as good was walking in the door and smelling the roast cooking in the crock pot, it’s making me hungry!

I am making a cup of tea to drink while I check out the photos I took, but first, one other things. I can’t believe the number of hits my blog has gotten through the search engines about the new Michigan Rockport State Park. The state just announced that Friday, and already people are looking for information about it. I found the area because I was looking for access sites for kayaking on Lake Huron. I was rather surprised when I read that it had been turned into a state park. Over the last decade, news stories about our parks have usually been bad news, more parks closing, or other bad news.

The state implemented the new recreational passport last year, and that seems to be bringing in more money for the parks, plus, the new director of the DNR, Rodney Stokes, did a major reorganization of the department last year that seems to be paying dividends as well.

One thing I forgot to mention about the park is that there are no developed campsites, at least not of yet. That holds true of the entire area, including Thompson’s Harbor State Park which only has a couple of cabins for rent to campers.

Next, before I forget, there were many things I saw today that I didn’t get photos of, the one that comes to mind is the mallards “whitewater rafting” in Buck Creek. I actually laughed out loud watching them having a grand time shooting the rapids, then swimming back upstream in a slower part of the creek, only to shoot the rapids again. Then, there was the small hawk that whizzed by overhead so fast that I couldn’t even begin to identify it, let alone get a photo. Sometimes I forget about things like that if I didn’t get a photo. And speaking of photos, here we go.

Red bellied woodpecker

I took these right on the edge of the park, I thought it was cool the way it was hanging upside down. But, here it is right side up.

Red bellied woodpecker

Then came the real surprise of the day!

Great blue heron, snow, and ice

I had already titled this week’s post as “Cold blue”, honest, I did. I was referring to the bright blue sky this morning, but knowing that it was also one of the coldest mornings this winter. I had no idea I was going to see a great blue heron in Michigan during the month of February while the temperatures have been as low as they have been all winter.

Great blue heron, snow, and ice

I tried to circle around to get a better shot, but the pond the heron was in is surrounded by brush, and I spooked the heron off before I could get a good photo of it. I think that I found the same heron again for these shots.

Great blue heron, snow, and ice

I took that one with the lens set to 70 mm to capture the setting, here’s one taken zoomed in to 300 mm and cropped somewhat.

Great blue heron, snow, and ice

There may have been more than one heron, when I got to the very first pond along the trail, I saw a larger bird that flew like a heron. I didn’t think it was large enough to be a great blue, I thought it may have been a little green heron, but had convinced myself that it was impossible for any herons to be around here, wrong! So, now I have no idea what the first heron-like bird I saw was, it didn’t have the wingspan of a great blue, but it flew like a heron. Hmmm.

Here’s a couple other shots, no wildlife, just scenery pictures.

Grass and snow

Ice on a twig

More ice on another twig

After yet another flash freeze Friday, the woods were all sparkly again today. I thought that this next one was kind of cool, with the reflection of the blue sky on the creek.

Blue sky reflected off Buck Creek

Then, there was this little clown.

Fox squirrel that made a poor choice as to where to sit

That doesn’t look to me to be the best place to sit down for lunch, but then, I’m not a squirrel.

Fox squirrel enjoying lunch

Then it gave me “the look”.

Fox squirrel

As if it were telling me to go bother something else for a while.

Then, for the next series, I have to ask, does anything like this ever happen to you? You’ll see what I mean as I go along in the pictures.

I noticed a flock of tweety birds, and thought that I would take a few photos.

Tufted titmouse

They were all landing in a couple of the bushes near me, then they would fly to one tree, land on the side of the tree away from me, then fly back to the bushes. I even tried to get a good photo of the shadow of one of the birds as it landed away from me on the tree, but that didn’t work well, so I kept shooting when they landed in the bushes.

Tufted titmouse

White breasted nuthatch

Tufted titmouse in flight

After standing there for several minutes watching the birds come and go, it finally dawned on me that maybe I should walk around to the other side of the tree and find out why they were all going to that one spot. This is what I found.

White breasted nuthatch, bread stuffed in a hollow tree

Some one, and it wasn’t me, had stuffed some bread into a hollow tree, and the birds were taking turns grabbing a bite to eat.

White breasted nuthatch eating bread

In all my days in the outdoors, I had never seen that before. I knew people brought corn and other goodies out there for the critters, but I have never seen bread stuffed into a hollow tree like that before. Then you have to wonder, how do the birds find it, and not just one bird, but flocks of them?

I continued on my way, the only other photos I took are of whitetail deer.

Whitetail deer in hiding

Whitetail deer laying in the snow

Sorry about the brush, they were on the other side of the creek, and I couldn’t do any better than that from where I was.

Here’s one of a doe chewing her cud.

Whitetail doe chewing her cud

By then, the sun was getting low in the sky, the wind was getting even colder than it had been all day, and I had a stop to make on my way home, so I called it a day. A very good day!

Monday

Today is starting out sunny, we’re supposed to get snow this afternoon or evening. Things are getting interesting already as I am drinking my coffee, I saw a great blue heron flying between the apartment complex and the housing development that is across a short wooded area from me. That along with the more typical cackling of the turkeys is telling me that I have to get my butt in gear and get out there. One thing that I have forgotten to mention about the swan photos I have been posting, I actually had enough sense to set the ISO on my camera down to 200, its lowest setting. I have been keeping the camera set at ISO 400 for the action shots I try for, maybe there is still some hope for me as a photographer after all. So far at least, I haven’t been forgetting to switch back and forth depending on the subject.

I was going to start by saying that there wasn’t much going on around here, but that isn’t true, it seldom is. What I should say is that I didn’t take many photos today, and I doubt that any are good enough to post. That gives me time to say a few other things.

Walking the same place every day is good in one respect, you really learn the area and the wildlife that lives there. The downside is that, at least I, become complacent at times. I think that I have photographed everything worth photographing around here, other than the wildlife. I will have to work on that, which will become a lot easier when the flowers begin blooming, and the insects and migrating songbirds return.

Another thing is that I have been wearing the Red Wing hiking books around here, and they are killing my lower legs. They are some very well constructed boots, built to last, but I’m not sure my ankles can take them on a daily basis. I lost count of the number of times I have sprained my ankles, between playing basketball, riding dirt bikes, and all the walking I have done while hunting and hiking. My left ankle seems to be especially bothered by the Red Wings, between how much they weigh and the fact there is no cushioning in the soles. I am adding this not to whine, but as a tip for any one thinking of buying hiking boots, there’s a lot more to consider than how well they are built. I wore the New Balance yesterday, five miles and my ankles held up just fine. Two miles today in the Red Wings, and I have developed a limp from the pain. So if you are shopping for hiking boots, be very careful what you buy.

OK, here’s the short version of my hike. It was fairly nice out, the clouds held off until I was about done, but the wind was cold, a continuation from yesterday. About a third of the way through my walk, I pulled my hood on to protect my ears from the wind, even though I was wearing a knit hat that covers my ears. I hate wearing a hood, it blocks the sounds somewhat, and the birds were chirping away, getting ready for spring.

The swans weren’t at the pond where they have been, not surprising, all the ponds are frozen over. So, what was that heron doing here this morning? It was flying low, it may have been looking for food in one of the creeks before it took flight. The ducks are all back in the creeks, hanging out in the brush, if I post a photo from today, that will probably be what I post.

I watched a muskrat gathering more grass, and was going to try for a good photo, but as I was waiting for it to return, I got distracted by the mallards and other birds in the brush along the creek, I ended up with nothing. There were a few turkeys around, and of course the usual tweety birds, just a typical day around here, nothing really special in one way, but very special in the fact that this was a typical day. Lots of wildlife to keep me entertained, but no great photos.

The weather forecast for Tuesday is more snow, that should be interesting, and later this week, they are predicting yet another rain to snow event with a flash freeze. How many does that make for this winter? I have lost count.

That’s it for today, on to Tuesday.

Tuesday

Today was one of those “yucky” days, terrible for photography, but I love hiking in the kind of weather we’re having today! It is around freezing, a little snow, a little rain, a little drizzle, a little mist, a little fog, a little wind, and lots of low dark clouds.

Since I downloaded the pictures from yesterday and today together, I will start with a couple from yesterday.

Male mallard sleeping

That’s one of those really not all that great photos I post that I am actually quite proud of. Not the photograph as much as being able to get that close to a sleeping duck! I recently read that ducks and some other birds only sleep with half their brain at a time, with the other half still active and alert to be on guard for any danger. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I know sneaking up on sleeping birds of any species is one of the most difficult things to do as far as getting close to critters. That photo also show once again how the mallards have taken to resting back in the brush this winter.

Another shot from yesterday, the new species I have discovered!

The rare blue headed mallard

OK, so I’m kidding about it being a new species, it’s just a male mallard that due to a quirk in the lighting, his head looks more blue than green. The ice hanging from the brush adds a nice touch I think. Which brings me to the last from yesterday.

Ice on a fir

That does remind me of something else. I noted earlier that with the return of so many species, it was as if I was starting out all over again as far as learning about those species. There are two other components to that as well. One is my memory, it may not be as good as I think it is. At one time, I could identify every species of evergreen growing in Michigan. I knew the typical length of their needles, how many needles were in each bundle, all that stuff, as just one example. Now, I don’t have the foggiest idea how many needles are in each bundle of a white pine, or any other pine.

Part of the reason for that is that over the years, the exact identification of wildlife became less important to me than just being out there enjoying nature. Now that I am doing this blog and would like to get the exact identification correct, I am finding that I have to relearn it all.

And that brings me to another reason that I more or less gave up identifying things, scientists are renaming some species on me! I go to look something up, and I find a big long discussion as to whether it is a distinct species in its own right, or a sub-species, or a hybrid of some type. I understand the scientific reasons for wanting to get it correct, but the outdoorsman in me wants to say, “When you people figure it out, let me know, for right now, I’m calling it what I have always called it”.

I really have to change my mindset. This was brought home to me when I did the post on the new Rockport State Park and included a couple of photos Fringed Gentian flowers. I have been seeing them for years in the Pigeon River Country here in Michigan, I assumed they were a domesticated species of flower that had escaped into the wild again. Then it dawned on me that the places I was seeing them were some of the most wild parts of the PRC, so maybe I had better look them up. I did, learned what they were, correctly identified them in some posts from last year, then, promptly forgot what they were again. Memory, don’t fail me now!

One more thing before today’s hike, now that I have mentioned the new Rockport State Park, the last two days have been record setting as far as the numbers of hits my blog has gotten, mostly due to people searching for info on the park. I am amazed! I think that I will be back up there over the Memorial Day weekend, if I can find room. From all the people searching it, the park may be too crowded…. 😉

Anyway, today’s hike. If your memory isn’t as bad as mine is getting, you’ll remember that the weather wasn’t the greatest. First up, almost right outside my door, the female sharp shinned hawk.

Sharp shined hawk taking off

I know, not very good, but I hesitated even getting the camera out from inside my parka at first. I knew any photos were going to be crappy, and with the moisture of all kinds in the air, I wasn’t sure I wanted to expose the camera to it. But, I haven’t seen her for a couple of days, and wanted to record it.

Next up, no photo, but there was a male cardinal singing his fool head off, from the top of one of the tallest oak trees around here, and on the back side of it to boot, which is why no photo of it. The birds around here are really going into their springtime mode, lots of singing today, not just that one cardinal. I was watching it, and a large flock of tweety birds, when I noticed that the robins have returned.

Robins

They have been gone for a few weeks, and I have speculated that they had gone north when the snow melted around here. Now, we’ve had snow on the ground again for a week or more, and the robins have returned.

Robins

I have a theory, that it isn’t food, snow cover, or even temperature directly that influence the migration of some birds, it is the availability of open water, and that the birds only go as far south as it takes to find open water. Here’s why. I see the migrating birds like robins, bluebirds and others, hanging out in flocks along the creeks that are still flowing. There’s food there for them there, but I also see them drinking from the creeks quite often. During our last cold snap, when the creeks even came close to freezing completely over, I watched a flock of robins take turns drinking from a very small opening left in the ice. I think that we tend to forget about how important drinking water is to birds, and focus on food and temperatures as to why they move in the patterns they do. Something else for me to study more closely.

Then there was this guy.

Northern cardinal singing in February

I told you about the other cardinal singing already, not long after that, this one took up song. He was in a smaller tree, so I was able to get a bad photo of him for the “record”.

Let’s see, I stopped at one of the creeks and watched the ducks for a while. Since the ponds are all frozen over, the ducks are crowded into the creeks, and being jammed in together, there was much splashing, chasing, and butt biting going on. No great brawls like in an earlier post, just a few scuffles from time to time.

The only other noteworthy thing was a tom turkey thinking that since it is Valentine’s Day today, that the hen turkey he was courting should have been in a “romantic” mood as well, but she was having none of it. He was doing his displaying and circle dance around her, she was ignoring him, stuffing herself with acorns. No other comments from me on that one!

That’s it for today, tomorrow is supposed to be great! High near 40 degrees, and the sunshine is forecast to return for a day.

Wednesday

Well, the sunny day that was predicted yesterday has given way to a lighter continuation of yesterday’s gloomy day. There doesn’t seem to be as much precipitation coming down, and the clouds are a bit lighter, but still, a dreary day. We’ll see what I can come up with as far as photos.

I think the science of meteorology has gone downhill since they all began relying on computer models to do the forecasting for them. Twenty four hours ago the forecast was for a warm sunny day, now that it didn’t turn out that way, they are predicting a cool, cloudy day. There are times, not just when it comes to the weather, that I think we are letting bad computer models run our lives. But, I don’t intend this to be a science fiction blog, so I had better get out there and see what’s going on today!

That was interesting, almost as soon as I began my walk, the clouds began to break up. I spent a lot of time talking to the groundskeepers here, they were out shovelling the snow from the parking lots because so many people have been complaining. But, that’s the subject of another blog that I won’t do.

It seemed really dead around here, despite the pleasant temperature, that is an odd thing around here. I took one bad photo of the pond that the swans were hanging around in last week, trying to capture the strange color of the ice due to the clouds and the ice melting, but it didn’t turn out the way I want. The swans weren’t there, the pond is still frozen over right now.

I did watch the mallards in the creek for a while, I’ve posted enough photos of them recently, so I didn’t even try for a photo.

I was 3/4 of the way done with my walk, and not too much to write about, when the sun broke through the clouds for good, and it was if it instantly when from dreary to bright! I caught this photo of a fox squirrel that was taking advantage of the sun to soak up some rays.

Fox squirrel sunning

It was like some one had flipped a switch, the birds started singing and flitting about as soon as the sun came out.

Robin

I stood at one corner of a wooded area right outside my apartment, that’s how close I was to finishing my walk, and took photo…

White breasted nuthatch

…after photo…

Black capped chickadee

…after photo..

Downy woodpecker

…after photo, including this one, which is I think, the best picture of a chickadee that I have ever taken.

Black capped chickadee

The only reason I didn’t get even more photos was that the birds were going at hyper-speed! They weren’t sitting still long enough for me to get them in the frame and focused on them before they were gone again. I did get a few very bad action shots, like the back half of a downy woodpecker in flight, but I’m not going to bore you with them today. I also tried for a shot of the male cardinal that was perched and singing in the top of one of the trees I was standing under, but he was too high up, and there were too many branches in the way. It sure felt great, warm sunshine, birds singing and going crazy, a sign of things to come.

I really wanted to do another lap around here now that the place had come alive, but time didn’t permit that. In fact, I would like to expound further on how I think that it is the availability of open water that determines a good share of the migration habits of some birds, but time doesn’t allow me to do that right now either.

That, and I received an update from the Little Traverse conservancy of which I am a member. 2011 was one of their best years ever as far as both fund-raising, and the amount of land they have helped to preserve. It is their 40th anniversary this year, and in those 40 years, they have protected over 14,000 acres of land in northern Michigan!

Of course I would love it if every one who reads this would join as well, but I know that isn’t going to happen. However, I would urge every one to find a local land conservancy in their area and join. With the loss of habitat one of biggest challenges facing most species of wildlife, protecting habitat by preserving it from development is one of the best ways to ensure that those species survive.

One more thing, Rebecca in the woods just did a post above wolves in northern Wisconsin that you may want to read. You can find a link to her blog on the right side of this page, along with a link to the Little Traverse Conservancy, if you’re interested. Anyway, the reason I mentioned her post is that wolves have been removed from the endangered species list here in Michigan as well as in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I am not happy about that at all, and I need to do a post on that subject when I get the time.

Sorry about how short this day’s entry is, time to head for work today, on to Thursday.

Thursday

The rain overnight melted most of the snow that was on the ground, and all that moisture is now hanging in the air as a very heavy fog. I am hoping the fog will either burn off or be blown out before I go for my hike, in the meantime, I whipped up a loaf of banana nut bread for later.

It will be interesting to see if the robins are still around now that we are back in a warming trend, along with the herons and swans. Since they all showed up towards the end of a two week cool spell, I am thinking they came from the north rather than from the south.

I’m back, no robins, no herons, but the swans are back. Two days of warm weather, a warming trend predicted to continue, and a little open water in one of the ponds was all it took. The herons and robins could still be in the area, and it could be that I just didn’t see them today. Time will tell.

Before I get to the photos, there are birds around here that I seldom, if ever mention. I have posted a few photos of herring gulls, taken both here and along the lakeshore, just as practice shots on moving targets. The gulls are around here daily, always flying east to west. I don’t know if they roost east of here, or what, but I see them all the time. I can’t tell you the number of times I have caught the motion from one of them out of the corner of my eye and pulled up with the camera in hopes it was a hawk or other species. It isn’t that I dislike gulls, it just that they are always around.

Two other species always around are the English house sparrow and English starlings. I know from other people’s post that some of you like them, so I won’t offer my opinion of them. I’ll just say that you will never see a photograph of either of those two species here, unless it is something truly spectacular, like one of them in the claws of a hawk, or something on that order.

Now then, on to the swan photos.

Mute swans and ice

You can see in that picture how they had landed on the ice, then broken a path through the ice to reach the little bit of open water around the edge of the pond.

I was still zoomed out to get that photo, when two mallards took off.

Mallards taking flight

I zoomed in on the male…

Male mallard in flight

..and got two surprisingly good photos considering how dark it was today.

Male mallard in flight

And as I type this, the sun is trying to break through the clouds, bad timing.

Oh well, this looks cold to me.

Mute swans and ice

I wouldn’t want to be dunking my head into a bucket of ice water today.

Mute swans and ice

If you’re a large, hungry mute swan and you think a flock of mallards have discovered something good to eat, what do you do?

Mute swan herding ducks

You herd them out of your way….

Mute swans and ice

and go for the goodies yourself.

Mute swans and ice

Mute swans and ice

Almost a heart, not quite, darn.

The rest of my walk was rather uneventful, I was deep in thought about a number of things. One was the migration of the birds. If I had been really smart, and had I known we were going to have a mild winter, I should have made a spreadsheet to track the weather, the ice coverage on the ponds and creeks, and what species were here when. I suppose I could go back through the weather records and my photos and do a close approximation, but that would be quite time-consuming, and I don’t have the time right now.

The other thing on my mind was work and the Teamsters union. I doubt if I will be getting the promotion I wrote about before, the idiots that manage the company I work for think that I am harder to replace than the person that retired, so I will be stuck in this job forever. Then there’s the money sucking leeches in the Teamsters, how I wish Michigan was a right to work state!

I don’t want to turn this into a political blog, but I hate unions, always have, always will. On a regular basis, the Teamsters send me mailings warning me that large, evil corporations are out to ruin my standard of living to the point where I can no longer afford to purchase the products and services that those evil corporations depend my making in order to turn the obscene profits they do.

Also on a regular basis, I get mailings from the Teamsters telling me that they have partnered with those evil corporations to try to sell me overpriced products and services and that I should really take advantage of those offers because the Teamsters get a kickback, those evil corporations have agreed to make a donation to the Teamsters for every unit sold.

Maybe unions were something needed 100 years ago, but as I see it, the union leadership are nothing more than a bunch of fatcats living the good life by sucking money out of my paycheck. When Jimmy Hoffa Jr. agrees to take the average rank and file Teamster member’s salary as his own, that would be one thing. But, when his salary is about equal to the salaries of the CEOs he’s always bashing, it’s hard to take him for anything more than the crook that he is.

Enough of that, on to Friday.

Friday

The big news today, Cabelas is coming to this area! I have already written that Cabelas is one of my favorite sources for outdoor gear, now I will no longer have to pay for shipping, if I can’t find what I want in the store. The store they are building here is a downsized version of their more typical stores, so I will probably still have to order much of the clothing I buy.

The other big news, sunshine! So, I am off for my hike!

What a fantastic mid-winter day! No camera in the parka, in fact, I carried the camera most of the day, it was wonderful out there. I wish I had a ton of photos to share from today, but for the most part, all I got were more of the same old same old. There are so many reasons why, as you will find out about as I go.

The weather was great, but the snow removal service that has been doing such a rotten job around here sent their skid-steer operator over here to finally finish removing the snow from the parking lots. For better than the first third of my walk, it was as if he were following me around. I could hear many birds over the noise of the loader, but because of the noise, I had a hard time pinpointing where the birds were. That, and about the time I found a bird to shoot, the loader operator would drop the bucket and frighten everything away.

I got to the pond where the swans had been yesterday, no swans today, but I did shoot this one.

Half frozen pond

And for one of my bad action shots of the day, I took this one of a fox squirrel making a leap.

Fox squirrel feet

I got to one of the other ponds, where the swans had spent most of their time when they first arrived here, but they weren’t there. I could see from the paths in the thin ice that they had been there since yesterday’s hike, so they may be back.

At one of the creeks I could hear lots of birds, including some bluebirds, but I couldn’t spot anything close to me other than the mallards.

Male mallard

Male mallard

I included those last two for a reason. After taking nearly 9,000 photos with my Nikon D 50, it seems to be finally working the way that it should, most of the time. It still has its glitches, but for the most part, it is working better than ever. Part of that is that I have finally learned its glitches, and pay special attention to certain things it does, but I have never been happier with it than I have the last month and a half or so. I am still using the spot metering mode, I’m afraid to change any settings for fear it will revert back to doing whatever it feels like.

As I said, there were birds singing everywhere, especially the male cardinals. I tried getting some shots of them, this is the best I could do, and it isn’t very good.

Male northern cardinal

Just like yesterday, they were in the tops of tall trees and hidden by branches most of the time.

And another photo to jog my memory.

American robin dancing

As you can see, the robins are back here again, that’s not the only reason for the photo though. I forgot that yesterday I saw a small flock of cedar waxwings for the first time this spring. I was getting set to take a bad photo of them when some one else spooked them off, and I had sort of forgotten about them. I shouldn’t have.

The cedar waxwings were feeding on mountain ash berries in trees that none of the other species of birds around here seem to touch. I almost shot a picture of those trees today to show how many berries are left on those trees, especially in comparison to the trees the robins were feeding in and under today. I do notice one thing now seeing the picture of the robin, the berries on those trees are more red than the berries on the other mountain ash trees, which are more orange in color. Hmmm.

I thought that part of the reason could be due to available cover nearby, the trees with the more orange berries aren’t near any of the evergreens around here, but when I looked at the trees with the reddish berries the robins were feeding on today, there are no evergreens around them either. Hmmm again.

The mountain ash trees that all the birds seem to go for are the ones near evergreen trees. Now that one is explainable.

Then I wonder if any one else even cares, or if I am obsessed with berries? 😉

No, because as I was trying to get a good shot of the robins feeding on the berries, I noticed a red-tailed hawk circling close and fairly low. I was trying to get a good photo of it, but I was under the stupid mountain ash trees and their berries, which kept blocking my view of the hawk. I ran out from under the trees, and got these not so great shots of the hawk.

Red-tailed hawk in flight

Red-tailed hawk in flight

Those were taken on the hawk’s second pass overhead, which of course wasn’t as close or as low as its first pass had been, darn!

Then, I looked back at where the robins had been, I thought for sure I would have spooked them while chasing the hawk, but they were still there. In fact, I was nearly directly under one of the robins. I carefully circled back around to get better lighting, and the stupid robins all flew off long before I got anywhere nearly as close as I had been just a short while before, go figure. I guess they were full.

Back to the berries and the trees that bear them. As I noted when I first started obsessing over the berries, there are mountain ash trees planted in several groups around the apartment complex here. Some of the groups are near evergreens, some are out in the open. As I discovered today, some of the trees have berries that are more orange, some have berries that are more red. Now, I am going to have to stop at each grouping and figure out if they have red berries or orange, because some of the trees are nearly stripped of berries, and some have hardly been touched.

I never really noted the difference before, but I remember that the trees I saw the cedar waxwings in yesterday was one of the same trees that I photographed the cedar waxwings in last spring when they arrived. As a matter of fact, that’s what I was thinking to myself when I first saw the waxwings, “That’s the same tree they were in last spring”. So their preference for those particular trees isn’t something from just this spring. Maybe I will have to do some taste testing to see why some species prefer the red berries, and other species prefer the orange berries. Or maybe I should quit obsessing with the berries and just shoot bird photos.

Cedar waxwing from last spring

That’s it for the berries for today, tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler with some snow, maybe, we’ll see. On to Saturday.

Saturday

Has every one heard more than they ever wanted to about mountain ash berries? If so, raise your hands please.

We had a pathetic little snowstorm roll through here late yesterday afternoon, when it began it had all the look of being the real deal. Once again, it looked like the first snowfall of the season, rather than a February storm. That didn’t last long though, and this morning, almost all the new snow has melted already.

The long-range forecast for March is in, and they are calling for the mild winter to continue. That has me worried, as the long-range forecasts are seldom correct.

As for today, partly sunny, with a stiff breeze out of the west and temperatures mild for this time of year. I am thinking about doing two laps here today, one for photos, one for more exercise. Of course I will still have my camera with me on the second lap, we’ll see what I come up with.

There was a change of plans during my walk which you’ll find out about when I get there, the other story was that the clouds rolled in and began spitting snow almost the minute I walked out the door. Also almost right outside my door was this turkey.

Turkey lying down

It’s not everyday that I can get that close to a wild turkey that’s lying down, so I had to take that one. That turkey and the one that was with it took off running of course, and I snapped this one as they did.

Turkey stretching its wings

Since there was little light with the clouds blotting out the sun, it came out blurry, but I kind of like it, makes me think I should try for a similar, but better shot.

I got to the pond where the swans have been hanging out, and they were there again today. I stood there for quite some time, knowing that I had all day for a change, no work to interrupt my pleasure! I took over 100 photos today, mostly of the swans.

Mute swan preening

I’m not going to bore you with all of them, just a couple. But first, as I was standing there, other waterfowl, ducks and gees, either flew over the pond, or landed in it to join the swans. I took many photos of those birds as well, but very few of them came out well due to the lack of light. Here’s the best of a bad lot.

Male mallard preparing for touchdown

The geese I saw didn’t land, they had their wings set, their feet down, it looked like they were coming in for a landing, but I don’t know if the sight of me or the swans made them change their minds, but they did. The photos I got of them were really bad, no reason to post them here.

Here’s another shot of the swans.

Mute swan stretching its wings

It was quit chilly standing in one spot with the cold wind blowing the way that it was, besides, how many swan photos could I take in one day? So, off I went. I wasn’t seeing much, I don’t know if it was because of the time of day, or the wind. One thing I did see was hundreds of herring gulls, as is usual around here this time of year.

The other thing I noticed is that a small flock of robins was in the process of trying to eat as many of the mountain ash berries as they could, from one of the trees that up until today, I had never seen a bird in this winter. No photos, for some reason, I didn’t even make an attempt. I think it was because my hand was frozen from taking the swan photos, the light was crummy, and the robins themselves didn’t look very photogenic today. I just made a mental note that the robins were there, and continued on my way.

As I got towards the front of the complex, a thought occurred to me, I should walk down to the chain of lakes to the west. I seldom go there, I have to walk along the road, which is not my favorite thing to do, especially with the amount of traffic there is. I knew that if I took a second lap here, I would end up with another 100 swan photos. Besides, I was wondering what I would find there. I haven’t been there since early this winter, when the weather was so bad some nice young kid offered me a ride because of the weather.

Another reason I don’t go to the chain of lakes very often is that they are surrounded by houses and condos, and to make it even worse, I have to shoot into the sun for most of the day, making any photos I attempt, not worth taking.

I got to the lakes and found out why I always see the gulls flying west, it’s to get to the lakes. There were thousands of gulls there, along with several hundred each of both mallards and Canadian geese. I did shoot this one of a small part of a small flock of gulls.

Herring gulls

I was hoping to find a heron or two, no luck on that. The chain of lakes is really good for seeing large numbers of waterfowl, but as I said, terrible as far as getting good photos of any of them.

On the way back here, the sun broke through the clouds again, it felt 30 degrees warmer than on the walk over to the lakes. I headed back to the pond where the swans were, hoping for some better photos in the sunlight, they were sleeping when I got there, however, as soon as I stuck my head around the tree I was using to get close to them, their heads came up, and they went back to preening again. I took these two pictures with my Canon, I haven’t been using it very much of late.

Mute swans preening

Mute swan

For a relatively inexpensive camera, the Canon does a really good job!

I also used it on these two.

Ice and snow on an evergreen

Ice and snow on an evergreen

I was really hoping for better pictures today, that happens I guess. All in all, not a bad day, and all in all, not a bad week. Kind of an average week for around here, which is why I love living here!

One more thing before I publish this week’s post, I have added a link to Jack Elliott’s Santa Barbara Adventure blog, it is about a little bit of everything, from hiking to history to surfing, with some great photos to help tell the story. If you haven’t checked it out already, I would suggest you do so.

That’s about it for this week, I’m not sure yet what I am going to be up to tomorrow. It looks like we could have a spectacular sunset here this evening, I should find a good spot and wait to see if I could capture any good photos, but I think I’ll eat supper and watch it through the window. This week is ending much as it began, with bright blue skies, but on the chilly side. No snow left from the beginning of the week, that’s OK, no snow makes for easier hiking and longer hikes!

Thanks for stopping by!

February 18, 2012 | Categories: Birds, Hiking, My Week, Nature, Photography | Tags: Birds, Hawks, Hiking, Mallards, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Photos, Whitetail deer | 25 Comments