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.

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.

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.

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.

So I stood.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

And a disgruntled blue jay.

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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.

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.