A week ago I had the chance to go to Kensington, one of my favorite places in the world. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

The birds weren’t crazy hungry and we weren’t overrun by little ones, but we had our fair share of visitors demanding a treat.

My sister and I had been there before, a few years ago and she was used to having birds fly down to her hand, but it was still magical. It always is.

Her friend had never been there before so this was a new experience. He figured out that he could toss a peanut up in the air and the red bellied woodpeckers and the blue jays would both fly out from the trees and catch that peanut in the air.

They were successful grabbing the nut about 99% of the time.

He also got an up close and personal viewing of several sandhill cranes. We didn’t feed them, but they were hopeful and followed us around on the trail.

The heron rookery was full of expectant parents. Though I’m sure there are eggs or maybe even youngsters up in those big nests we couldn’t see any yet.

Ms. Swan built her nest very near the boardwalk this year. I’m sure every photographer has a great image of mom waiting patiently on her nest. By this week there could be babies and the usual paparazzi shooting baby pictures.

I doubt I’ll get out there again soon, but I sure enjoyed my spring walk with family through such a beautiful place. I hope you enjoyed these images too.