As I was leaving Kensington, having been run out of town on the trails by the little birds, and on the boardwalk by a marauding swan and a big group of kids, I stopped at a little picnic area, off the beaten path.

I thought maybe the birds there would be more forgiving, since they don’t get many visitors. I turned on my Merlin app and let it record the birds singing as it identified who was nearby.

A vireo, a common yellow throat, a warbler, a bluebird, a flicker, a red winged blackbird. And of course a robin.

I could hear the vireo and the common yellow throat coming from down near the marsh, so I crept that way. I spent a long time standing still staring up at a cottonwood tree that I’m pretty sure hid the yellow throat. But I never saw anything move.

I’d already been out at the park for hours and I was hungry, having forgotten to bring myself anything to eat either. So I headed back toward the car, past the picnic pavilion where I saw this little guy.

Well, it’s not a photogenic location, but heck, it’s a bluebird. Right?

He flew up into a tree and then over to the outhouse building. Still not a photogenic location, but the sun was pretty on him there.

He bounced around there, from the corner of the building down to the ground up into a tree and back to the building again. Then I lost track of him, couldn’t find him anywhere.

I decided it was time to go home, and I turned around to head to the car and, little stinker, there he was on the path right next to me!

It was as if he was laughing at me as I took my third, not photogenic, photo of him just because he was beautiful.

And then he flew up into a branch and stayed there, posing until I got the shot.

Well thank you kindly, Mr. Bluebird, for playing along. You sure made me smile that afternoon! And I’m still smiling today!