Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Kensington


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Deer reader

When I left you and the birds last I was headed to the back regions of Kensington Metropark in search of deer. It’s almost guaranteed to find one or two back there if you’re quiet. If you’re not quiet you won’t see any. But they’ll be watching you.

This little guy was the one that got my attention by his incessant whining as I was walking through the woods.

As I worked my way toward the back a woman coming the other way said she had seen two beautiful does in the furthest back corner of the longest loop. Since I was headed that direction anyway I smiled my thanks. I knew they wouldn’t still be there when I arrived, but I also knew there were some back there.

This guy chimed in, so I had to stop and feed them for awhile.

Somewhere.

On the way I had a few birds begging for treats, so I stopped and tossed them a few peanuts. I was busy doing that when a guy came up the path. He apologized for interrupting my bird photo shoot. I said no problem, there would be lots of opportunities to get more pictures.

This one was quite insistent too.

We talked for awhile. He said there was a thicket to the right around the next corner where he often saw multiple pairs of cardinals. I thanked him and got back to work shooting my birds.

I had only seen a couple of deer far off in the woods so far, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see many more. But a whole lot of cardinals? That would be fun!

She was pretty far away, but I was glad to see at least one deer that morning.

And then I rounded the corner, and saw the guy down at the end of a long slope, taking pictures with his phone of several deer that were standing around quite close to him. I stopped so as to not startle them.

There was a group of about six does hanging out together.

At first they were focused on him, hoping for a handout. Then they noticed me.

She decided to smell the air to see if I was a threat.

The guy moved on and now I was the main attraction.

There was a buck too, but he wasn’t interested in me.

I know they wanted something to eat, but all I had was seed for the birds. Not nearly enough to feed the herd. I moved on trying not to startle them, until I came to the thicket around another corner, quite a ways from the herd of dear, where the cardinals lived.

She could flip one ear back to listen for things behind her, while keeping one ear and her eyes focused on me.

There was only one that I saw that morning, but he delighted me by flying up to a sunlit branch.

He was posing for me.

I had the camera up to my eyes, trying to figure out the best shot when I heard footsteps. I thought maybe another person was coming along the trail so I pulled off a few shots of the cardinal, knowing he’d fly away.

And then I lowered the camera and glanced back to see who was coming.

The whole herd was coming down the trail, following me.

I guess they hadn’t given up on me. I felt even worse that I had nothing to give them. One in particular was out front. I thought he was a youngster, less wary, perhaps more hungry.

She was asking with her eyes. I imagine some people do feed them, but I don’t think very many people walk this far back in the woods.

I stood and watched them as they gave up on me and wandered a bit looking for something to eat.

I’m sorry, girl. I hope you made it through this cold snap out there.

Then I moved as swiftly as I could away, climbing a hill and making a couple turns as soon as I could to put some space between me and them. I found myself next to another thicket that had all sorts of birds, including a cardinal couple.

They were interested in me but not interested in getting too close. In fact, Ms. Cardinal took great delight in not giving me a clear shot to a great image.

Yep, that branch across her face was deliberate on her part.

She flitted from here to there.

She moved and her face was showing, but now the branches covered up her beautiful body.

Always making sure there were twigs and branches between her and me…

Different branch, same story.

…while making sure she showed enough of her beautiful colors to keep me intrigued.

She had a lot of spots to hide, but she couldn’t hide her beauty.

She let me chase her down the trail, always keeping something between us.

Yep, she won the game, bet she’s still smiling.

After awhile I just gave up and went on down the trail. It was getting late and I was a long way from the car.

My artsy fartsy picture of the day

But there were a whole lot of birds waiting for me, so it wasn’t a fast trip back to the car.

“Hey lady!”

No, they dropped out of trees and flew around my head as I walked, landing on my camera lens if I ignored them.

Missed the bird, but I liked the image anyway.

They were everywhere. I was surprised because usually that far back in the woods, where fewer people walk, the birds are not as eager to engage.

Such cute little ones.

As I got closer to the parking lot the birds because more assertive. I emptied my pocket of seed, sharing some with a squirrel or two along the way.

Pretty sure he knew I had seed in my pocket.

Eventually I made it out of there, completely stripped of all treats, but with a full card of wonderful images, and great memories.

Getting his own lunch.

Even though I didn’t gain an audience with the Queen of the Boardwalk.

Looking for lunch in their refridge.


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The birds tell it like it is

It was sunny yesterday. Cold, but sunny, and there’s no way I wanted to waste a sunny day doing laundry. Plus I figured the birds would be hungry. So I headed out to my favorite park, dressed in layers, with cleats on my boots, and a long lens on my camera.

The heron rookery waiting patiently for spring.

I visited the boardwalk first, to see if I could garner another audience with the queen, but though she was in the thicket, she didn’t deem me worthy. It was early, but other small birds were more than happy to jump aboard the hand for breakfast.

This little one glowed in the morning light.

Ms. Redbelly, however, would only eat from the railing. Though she seemed very interested in what I was doing out there on such a cold early morning.

“If I hurry I can come back for seconds!”

I spent entirely too much time out there trying to coax the queen in, and finally my frozen toes and fingers insisted I move on or go home. I moved on.

“No time to lose, the queen could snatch up the rest of breakfast if I don’t move fast!”

I specifically wanted to hike the trails at the back of the park, looking for deer. But I think I’ll let the birds tell you the story.

“Bout time you got here, lady. We’ve been waiting.”
“I’ll just let everybody else know you’re finally arrived.”

“I heard you had peanuts!”
“My private dining table is at the top of this tree.”

“Hey! I’m wearing my red badge, I was supposed to get preferential treatment!”

“You better be here when I get back!”

“Those woodpeckers think they’re all that.”

“Yea, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. She drops plenty of stuff for all of us.”

“But she didn’t leave ANYTHING in my favorite feeder!”

“Really??! Not ANYTHING?”

“You silly little Titmouse, you didn’t look hard enough!”

“Why, I got a suet nugget!!”

“I’m TELLING! You always get the good stuff!”

“Seriously lady, I’m very disappointed in you. And I bet you don’t see any deer either, if you don’t get going.”

And did I see any deer? Well, these demanding birds have taken up all my time.

You’ll have to wait and see.

“Drama queens, all of you!”


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Crane watching

While I was walking the boardwalk searching for the Queen I noticed these cranes through the bushes and across the road.

Is our lunch being delivered?

What were they watching, I wondered?

You gotta make sure you check both ways before you cross this road!

Oh. You wouldn’t think there’d be so much traffic on a cold mid-week afternoon.

That guy’s got skinny legs.

Don’t worry, no cranes (or runners) were injured in the capturing of these images.

Guess our lunch is delayed.

But I wonder if these guys don’t think it’s about time to head south?


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Queen of the Boardwalk

I was out there to meet the Queen. I’d been trying to get an audience with her for several weeks. But she’s a Royal and follows her own rules. I’m used to that.

Anybody out there? Hey Mr. Downy, are you hungry?

You see, almost every day I’d see, on Facebook, a photographer who calls herself the “Hand of Snacks” feeding a female cardinal along the boardwalk at my favorite park.

Well, at least one bird wants a snack!

Lots of birds come down to any number of hands filled with snacks at this park, but cardinals are famously shy. Quite stand-offish. So to see this female sitting in a hand regularly intrigued me. And I drove the 30+ minutes every week or so, hoping to get to meet her Majesty for myself. Oh, I’d see her – sitting in the scrub along the boardwalk. I’d offer a treat. She’d watch me. But she never showed any interest in getting to know me better. Week after week I’d leave disappointed.

They almost always go for the peanuts first.

This Wednesday, there she was, sitting among the twigs of a dogwood bush with her partner, the bright red Mr. Cardinal. And that morning she seemed interested in me. She moved out to the end of the branch and eyed me up and down. I stood still, gifts offered. She flew to the railing, quite a far bit away from me and eyed me some more.

She’s not too sure about this.

Clearly I was not her Hand of Snacks. I was an imposter. But she was hungry. But I was an imposter. Could she trust me? Would she trust me? She hopped along the railing to get a closer look. She looked up at me and then down at the snacks in my hand. I stood still, barely breathing.

Come on sweetie, it will be OK.

And then she reached out, her feet still firmly planted on the railing, she wasn’t going to actually stand on my hand, and grabbed an oiler seed, moving rapidly away from me to eat it. I stood still.

You have options, pick your favorite!

She hopped over again and helped herself to another treat, not moving so far away this time…and then she grabbed a peanut and with a slight nod to me, she flew back into the bushes to share it with her partner.

You’re such a good Queen, taking your partner the best peanut.

And the politely waiting chickadee hopped up onto my hand to see what she had left behind.

She’s off to share. Mr. Chickadee is waiting in line.

Now I can say I’ve met the Queen. And it was everything I knew it would be.

I’m glad she left him some of the good stuff.


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Cee’s Black and White photo challenge: All About Nature

Once in awhile I like to mess around with black and white images. Most of the time I look for stark images with clean lines and a big contrast between the darks and lights. Kind of ultra modern.

But I also like nature in black and white, so when I saw Cee’s challenge I went looking for something from my archives that would fit the bill. And, as you know, I have a LOT of bird images so I decided to pull this Sandhill crane from a visit just last month to my favorite bird park. It was all about the shadow when I took the image, and I think it’s the shadow that makes this a great black and white.

I hope you like it too! Thanks, Cee, for the challenge!