birds | Change Is Hard

Wordless Wednesday. It IS still Wednesday…right?

January 24, 2024 by dawnkinster 12 Comments

January 18, 2024
by dawnkinster 49 Comments

From my window seat

Last week we got our first significant snow of the season. We’d been enjoying unseasonably warm weather for most of December and January, while at the back of our minds we worried about our landscaping that needs a blanket of snow to survive until next spring.

*Mr and Mrs Cardinal dine together at our windy, snowy, deck railing.*

A definite benefit of being retired is that we don’t have to worry about commuting to work in a blizzard. If we don’t want to go out we don’t go out. It’s just one great perk of getting older.

*A little chickadee tries to warm up with some suet.*

Sometimes we forget there are benefits to aging.

*Two female European starlings unsuccessfully try to share what’s left of the suet.*

Anyway, I digress.

After days of warning from the pessimistic weather folks the storm hit us very early on Friday. First there was rain, then ice, then snow.

*A male downy woodpecker impatiently waits his turn.*

Early Friday, while taking the dog out for her morning ritual and stepping carefully down the icy driveway in the dark, we noticed a neighbor mincing his way down the street with his dog.

*Mrs Cardinal desperately tries to figure out how to get to the suet.*

Of course we went out to road to talk. Penny got to kiss Oliver, (the dog) who is somewhat besotted with her. The neighbor said there were some trees down up the road. I said I hadn’t looked out back yet.

*A blue jay uses his tail for balance in the wind.*

As the morning filled with light I saw that we, too, had some bending trees, some limbs down, the typical damage we usually sustain in an ice storm. I sighed. Little by little our birch trees are coming to the end of their lives.

We’ve lived here over 30 years, I guess it’s expected. Nothing lives forever, right?

Throughout the weekend the snow came down, blowing sideways from the northeast. We made very limited trips outside, only for doggie necessities.

*Mrs.* *Redbelly shows off her pink tummy.*

Mostly I sat in my chair with a view of a couple of our birdfeeders, watching the frenzy. And eventually, over the weekend, I got a few shots of the birds frantically eating, puffed up, trying to stay warm.

*You can see the purple and green in her feathers.*

I had to fill all the feeders, the thistle, the oiler, the peanut, the suet, at least twice a day. I even spread extra oilers on the deck railing, and under our rocking chairs that are turned upside down for the winter.

*The colors on the back of the blue jay are beautiful too.*

Little birds, and bigger birds too, were everywhere. As the food ran out they waited anxiously in the trees, coming down to wait closer as soon as I’d step out the backdoor. My birds know I’ve got their backs.

*Even the dark eyed junco, who usually likes to eat on the ground, was hungry enough to try the twirling suet feeder.*

And I know you’ve all seen photos of my birds at the feeders before. So in this post I tried to show you more unusual shots, a little attitude, a bit of wing.

I feel very lucky to be able to sit in my chair by the window and watch the entertainment happening just on the other side of the glass.

I hope you all enjoyed it too!

September 8, 2023
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Almost lost track

I took myself to Kensington a week or maybe more ago, hoping to get some great bird photos. There’s always something to see out there, and the warblers are migrating, so maybe…I hoped.

*This is one of my favorite trees, just before the nature center, a little island in the shallow end of the big lake.*

But the entire time I was at the park I had camera lens focus issues.

*The morning sun rose and lit this egret in the middle of his (or her) morning routine.*

My images were so bad I almost forgot about them. But regardless of the quality, I’ll share with you the best of what I consider a pretty sad batch of images, just because no matter what I capture, even if it’s not much of anything new, I’m always glad I went to Kensington.

*There was less light down on the water where I startled this young wood duck.*

And I’m always glad to share with you my adventures, as tame as they often are.

*The blue heron, drying off in the morning light wasn’t interesting in anything moving on the lake below.*

A lot of the time on this walk I took pictures of plants. Because, as I told one photographer last year who was noticing me focusing on berries instead of birds, plants don’t move.

In fact, this trip to Kensington I spent most of my time looking at the way light played in the dark woods.

Turns out it plays rather well, don’t you think?

But of course the birds kept bringing me back as they hovered over me, sometimes landing on my camera lens, asking for something to eat. They are very persistent.

*Hey lady! Did you bring the suet balls or the peanuts today?*

It’s pretty hard to ignore them, even if you aren’t happy with the images you’re getting.

Sometimes I just feed them and don’t even bother trying to capture the magic.

Other times the birds and the light work together and I get something interesting.

*A titmouse backlit by the morning sun.*

I had so much trouble on this walk through the woods, capturing anything the way I wanted to, it got discouraging.

Focusing on plants as a last resort I wandered some more.

*More joe pye this year than I’ve ever seen before.*

I eventually decided it just wasn’t going to be my day, and headed back toward the car.

*Even the chipmunks turned away from me.*

But just before I got to the parking lot I saw one more trail, one that headed out to where I sometimes saw unusual stuff. It wasn’t a long trail.

*Noisy high iso, but the wings are still cool.*

Maybe it was worth a bit more walking.

*A whole family was enjoying a bug buffet.*

And there I found a dead tree, quite a ways away, but full of some sort of woodpecker family.

I thought it might be a group of red headed woodpeckers. The light made it difficult to see anything but silhouettes. But looking at the images later I saw the yellow on the underside of a wing, and I believe this was a flicker family.

*You took my gnat! I’m going to go tell mom!*

Regardless, they were very busy hopping around the tree looking for bugs and flitting from branch to branch.

And while I was focused on them I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, way down at the other end of the bridge. Something fliting around the touch-me-not flowers, far from where I was standing.

*What is that, way down there at the other end of the bridge?*

I shot blindly, not seeing anything in my viewfinder…

…but hoping for something. And the most beautiful female hummingbird showed up when I looked at the images at home.

*I’ve never seen hummingbirds out at the park before.*

She sure made me smile.

And then there was a noise on the other side of the bridge and I found this little female common yellowthroat. She made my day!

So the moral of my story is don’t give up. Walk down that little extra trail even if all you’ve had before is disappointment.

You never know what you’ll find. It could be magic.

*I even found a chipmunk that didn’t turn his back on me!*

And Kensington never disappoints.

*Do you mind? I’m trying to take a nap here!*

July 29, 2023
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

A green morning

I’m supposed to be sharing with you images of my short camping trip to Michigan’s UP. And I will…really. But this morning as I was busy washing dishes I happened to look out the window and, surprise, this guy was standing on our deck railing.

This is a green heron. They fish in the pond across the street, and they used to nest every summer in the vacant land behind us. But there’s houses back there now.

I haven’t seen the green herons all summer, nor last summer either that I remember. So this was really special and I just had to share him (or her) with you!

July 17, 2023
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

I saw a cardinal yawn

So when I left you last I had backed away from a crane scuffle and had resigned myself to photographing plants. But I really wanted to get great shots of birds.

I was feeling discouraged.

I moved slowly through the wetlands, enjoying the wildflowers but keeping my ears open for bird calls. Eventually I made my way back into the woods where the light was dim but a few birds were happily fliting around.

*The light was gentle under the old trees.*

I felt a bit of hope. I decided that every trip out to this park taught me more about photography and even if I didn’t get my dream shot, the experience of just being in the woods was worth all the blurry bird images I was likely to capture.

*Robins aren’t interested in oilers or peanuts but they are curious about what you’re doing in their woods.*

I walked slowly, and didn’t offer any birds seed from my hand unless they were obviously asking for something. It was late morning and most of them would have finished their breakfasts long before I showed up.

In fact everything seemed pretty quiet.

I used the Merlin app on my phone to listen for any interesting birds. I wasn’t hearing very much.

*Hey! You’re not going to put that on Facebook, are you?*

Then I remembered that I was going to try and stand still and wait while I was out in the woods. That moving around, even slowly, made most of the animals and birds skitter away.

*A camouflaged titmouse asks for a treat.*

So I stood.

And very soon, flying fast up the path at the level of my head, was a male red-bellied woodpecker.

*Just toss me a peanut and nobody gets hurt.*

I offered him something from my hand, but he wasn’t having it. He was, however, obviously wanting something to eat. So I tossed a peanut onto the trail behind me and immediately, even before the peanut hit the ground, he was on it.

And so was his youngster, waiting to be fed. They were in the shadows so the image of him feeding the young one is grainy. But it was so cool I wanted you to see it anyway.

Then they both flew up into the tree, dad on the front to ask for more food, and junior on the backside waiting for his free meal.

*Come on dad, pour on the angst, she’ll give us a suet ball if you act pathetic!*

Poor dad worked so hard. He’d grab something from the trail where I tossed it and fly to a tree where two young woodpeckers noisily followed him. I don’t think he got anything to eat himself.

*Here you go, son. But pretty soon you’re going to have to do this for yourself!*

The trio followed me for a good quarter mile. He’d zoom past my head and land on a tree trunk, and I’d toss him something that he’d take to his two freeloading kids.

*The two youngsters were tag teaming dad.*

Meanwhile other birds were gathering to watch. There was a young nuthatch who would have enjoyed an oiler, but was afraid to enter the fray.

*Hey buddy! Some of the rest of us would like some attention (and food) too!*

And a disgruntled blue jay.

*This is ridiculous. Some birds just think they are all that.*

And overseeing it all, strangely quiet, was the neighborhood blackbird.

*So much ruckus. It’s not seemly at all.*

Eventually I got away from the family of woodpeckers and started seeing other little birds.

*Thanks lady!* It’s always good to have a snack before our morning nap!

It was getting toward noon, the sun directly overhead, and most of the birds were settling down.

*Nope, don’t want anything more to eat, lady. Time to rest.*

They weren’t hungry, but if I was still I could see them tucked in among the branches.

*A fluffy titmouse settles in for a snooze.*

I figured it was time to head back to car. I could use a snack myself.

But on my way back to the car my Merlin app said there was a common yellowthroat nearby. And guess what? I found him!

*Way back in the shadows, such a cool looking bird!*

And just up the trail, hopping around in a cedar tree was a female common yellowthroat! I’ve never seen one before, it was so exciting!

*Everybody overlooks me, but I’m just as pretty and I don’t need to wear a mask to be cool!*

But what about the yawning cardinal, you ask? Oh yes, he was settling down for a nap in a bush when I walked by.

*Not singing, no sound at all, just a big yawn.*

I guess I was boring. Or maybe he was just too sleepy to be polite.

Oh, and on the drive out of the park I stopped to watch the osprey and her 3 young.

*There was much wing flapping, they’ll be out of the house soon.*

It turned out to be a spectacular day. And I learned more about photographing birds. I can’t wait to get out there to try again.

July 16, 2023
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

Still trying

One morning last week I gave in to my itchy shutter finger and went out to Kensington to try to photograph birds who aren’t the regular suspects.

I’ve been watching, on a Facebook group, nature photographers capturing some stunning images of birds from my favorite park. I asked one of the photographers if he was finding these birds on the nature trails there.

*I stalked this yellow ‘bird’ until I realized it wasn’t one.*

He said he was wandering around other areas of the park, and that made sense to me. Sure the titmice and chickadees and nuthatches were hanging around looking for a treat, making them easier to photograph. But what about other birds, those that aren’t into landing on hands or snacking on oilers?

*While I was waiting for a bird to show up I noticed this pretty pink flower.*

So I went out to the park and stopped at a picnic area quite a ways from the nature center. It had a picnic pavilion and a swing set and quite a large open area, surrounded by large, mature woods. I was the only person there. I used my Merlin app to find out what birds were near.

The place was overrun with robins. But there was also a flicker singing right at the tree line. I followed him for quite awhile…but didn’t have the right settings when he flew up from a branch.

*He was in decent light, but I needed to up the shutter speed.*

Still, I sort of like the image. It would have been stunning if the wings were sharp.

I adjusted my settings.

I found a bluebird who agreed to sit still for me, though he was a long way away and cropping the image shows the noise. Still, he’s cute, and everyone loves a bluebird.

*Hey lady! Get your shot quick, I’ve got to go pick up lunch for the Mrs.*

Mostly I chased the flicker around, and never got a better shot of him. Eventually I gave up and drove over to the nature trails where I found myself walking behind this couple.

They were in no hurry, so neither was I.

But then there arose a loud screeching of another crane pair coming in for a landing.

The original cranes were less than happy and much squawking and wing flapping ensured. The woman at the other end of the trail and I stood still, not wanting to get involved.

*I was busy backing away so I missed the most exciting parts of the greeting between the two couples.*

Eventually I backed up and headed down another trail where I found beautiful things to photograph that don’t move around so much.

It’s so much easier to photograph plants.

And they make me smile too.

*I don’t know what this is, but it sure was pretty!*

So I wonder….did I ever find any more birds to photograph? Was I successful at getting any good shots?

I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

June 5, 2023
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

Pretty special day

Saturday began with this, early in the morning while walking Penny in the backyard.

Then we were gifted an evening listening to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

The concert was pretty spectacular, as is Orchestra Hall.

And when we got home, around 11:30 that night, the moon was full and glowing orange from the smoke of distant forest fires.

I had a hard time focusing the camera, both on the bluebird and on the moon.

But it was still a pretty special day.

June 1, 2023
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

A tale of customer service

Some of you know that I spent most of my career in banking. The last 13 years of it were spent in mortgage banking, but the before that, for about 7 years I was management in retail banking. IE, a branch manager.

I managed different sized offices during that stint, some really small, some really big. All of them were busy, back in the days before electronic paychecks and even before ATM machines.

I remember lines out the door on General Motor’s weekly paydays. And cars constantly lined up in the drive-throughs on Friday evening when we stayed open late.

Working with the public can be stressful. I get that. But somewhere along the line customers got cut out of the service equation.

This week I realized my credit card was expiring at the end of May and I hadn’t received a replacement card. I’ve had this card since 1980. It says so right there on the plastic, and I’ve never had an issue like this.

So I figured I’d just call in and find out when I might expect the card. It wasn’t like I had any grand purchases planned, but it’s handy to have. I called the 800 number on the back of my card, the number for Customer Service.

After listening to several instructions to push 1 or say yes or no, I listened to a few advertisements for things they could do for me, none of which I was interested in. And interspersed between the ads, were suggestions about how much easier it could be if I’d just download the mobile app. Or perhaps I’d like to go to their website where surely I could solve all my problems.

All of this repeated for many long excruciating minutes, with ugly background noise disguised as music enhancing my enjoyment. They were experiencing a ‘high volume’ of calls and the wait time might be unusually long.

Huh. On a Tuesday night at 6:30 they were experiencing a high volume of calls? OK, I needed to go to band rehearsal, so after waiting for 15 minutes I decided to try again on another day.

Early Wednesday morning I called again. The same irritating music, the same ‘high volume of calls.’ I waited almost 20 minutes and hung up in disgust. It was obvious they were not interested in talking to me.

So I decided, what the heck, I’ll just drive to my local branch with my expired card and have them help me figure out what to do. Seemed so simple I don’t know why I didn’t think to do that from the start.

This afternoon I stopped by my branch.

There was nobody sitting at any of the customer service desks. The lights on that side of the building weren’t even on. There was a stock broker in a suit sitting in his office, but he wasn’t the appropriate person to fix my credit card issue.

Behind the teller line was one man, talking to a customer about a problem. It seemed quite complicated. At the far end of the teller line counter was another man running money through a counting machine. I couldn’t see it, but I’ve been around equipment like that enough to recognize the sound.

He never looked up.

I waited at the “enter here” sign for the employee to finish with the only other customer in the building. I waited a long time. And I noted he did not provide a solution to the customer’s problem.

Finally the man with the problem left and I approached the teller window. “You’ll need to go down there,” said the employee, nodding his head at the man on the end, still busy counting money. “I don’t have any money.” And he began to walk away.

“I don’t need money.” I said.

“Then what do you want?” he asked.

Yep, I’m feeling really weird about this whole place now. No customers, no staff, not even a teller working the drive-through, the curtains there are drawn, there’s no equipment on the counters, something seems off.

“Are you still a full service bank?” I asked.

“Why do you ask,” said the guy still counting money.

“Because there’s no one here.” I responded.

“We just had a bunch of people call in sick.” he replied.

Sure.

Anyway, I told the employee about my expired credit card and he said he couldn’t do anything from the branch and gave me a phone number to call.

An 800 number.

Apparently it’s my responsibility to fix this problem. And I’m not going to get any help from my local branch. If they’re even a branch at all.

I know I’m not alone, but when did customer service stop being a thing? And why must we only deal with people far away in call centers which must be so understaffed that exceptionally high call volume is really the norm and not an exception at all.

Maybe I’m just an old baby boomer who likes to reminisce about the way things used to be. But you youngsters should have been around when customer service ruled. When you got to talk to people face to face. And when they did their best to solve a problem rather than pass it on.

Or back to the customer.

Yep, those were the days. You’d have been amazed.

Note: images are from a walk last month at my favorite park. I never got them into a post, so I figure even if you don’t want to read about banking, and who would, you might enjoy the birds.

Wordless Wednesday

May 10, 2023 by dawnkinster 27 Comments

April 20, 2023
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

Shiawasee continued

When I left you last I was sitting on a bench, feeling defeated having walked a couple miles through the Refuge looking for great images and feeling as though I had missed the mark. I was tired and hungry and, slumped on a bench, was eating an apple when suddenly a bird flew low and fast, just missing my head, and landing somewhere behind me.

I didn’t know what it was, I thought maybe a Red-bellied Woodpecker, as those have been known to divebomb me during spring walks at Kensington. I grabbed the camera from the bench and got a couple of shots. Whatever it was was extremely noisy, but I couldn’t tell from the image in the viewfinder just what it was.

It was only after I got home and did some research that I knew there was such a thing as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. So cool! This image is better than I thought it would be, and though not perfect, you can see the yellow and red on the bird.

I think I was very lucky to see two of these guys that day!

And then, then…..just as I was putting the camera back down a flash of something caught my eye back cross the trail. I heard the sound of wings and something landing in a bush just over there. Could it be? Even though it was mostly hidden behind the branches I was thrilled to see an Eastern Towhee!

I clicked off some shots, praying I had the bird in focus and not just the branches in front. Either way I was happy just to see him.

I rarely see this bird at home, I think in the 30+ years I’ve lived where we are now I’ve seen a Towhee twice. They’re supposed to be here in Michigan all summer but they’re rare in my world. I was thrilled to see him, even if I didn’t get a better look.

And then, as if he was reading my mind, he hopped out onto a branch and stared at me.

He sat out there for a long time. I was shooting as fast as I could. He gave me a good look at both sides of his profile…

*“Make sure you get my good side. Oh wait. Both sides are good sides!”*

… and then he got bored with the whole model for hire thing and flew off for parts unknown.

*“Well, that’s enough of that! Does she think I work for free??”*

I looked at the images I had captured and tried not to squeal. This bird, this one little bird made my entire day. All the walking and lugging the heavy camera equipment, all the missed opportunities and focus issues, all the aches and pains were worth it for this one experience.

*This is my favorite crop of him, including the graceful curve of the greening branches.*

And, after a bit of reflection and giggling, I picked myself up and wandered happily down the trail, where I eventually found another bench and thought I’d try my luck and sit there for a moment or three, just to see what might stop by.

*“Lots of people overlook us sparrows, but we’re pretty cute if you just spend some time with us!”*

And this little guy, perhaps a swamp sparrow, graced me with his presence. I liked his (or her?) butch haircut on top. He didn’t stay long, so I moved along too. It was getting late and I wondered if the cinnamon teal was still in the pond back at the parking lot.

I was almost back to the parking lot when I saw this pretty mourning dove sunning.

He or she wasn’t shy about showing off subtle colors in the afternoon sun. I appreciated the display and moved on toward the car.

I was almost back on the main drive when I noticed these two killdeer standing together in the road.

*“Hey lady, we could use some privacy if you know what I mean?”*

And then I realized they weren’t exactly innocently standing there.

But rather they were enjoying a little afternoon delight. He seemed pretty happy and let me get one last shot. She was out of there, totally embarrassed.

*“Hey! I get a cut of any profits you get selling my image…right?”*

And when I finally got back to the parking lot and the pond? Nope, no cinnamon teal to be seen, but the turtles were fun.

*“Those birding people have mostly gone home, thank goodness. We could use a little peace around here.”*

And I met a wonderful nature photographer who happened to be up on the viewing platform looking for the teal too. We had a nice conversation and I told her where the towhee was and she headed off into the woods.

*“Those photographers will follow you anywhere!”*

I headed home, exhausted but oh oh so happy. And that, dear readers, is the end of this story.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: birds