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.
Once upon a time I lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where snow arrives early and stays late. You learn how to enjoy it or it will beat you down.
Your choice.
“You think it’s gonna snow all day?”
Of course I was younger then.
I learned how to use a U-per Scooper to clear my parking place, and how to snowshoe and cross country ski. It was all self defense, of course, but I learned to love most of it. Maybe not the U-per Scooper so much.
The back yard looks more exotic with snow.
I’ve lived in lower Michigan for 37 years now, my bones have become more brittle and I’m more careful when choosing my adventures. Lucky for me we don’t usually get snow in the amounts I remember from up north.
Even luckier for me I’m retired.
“One picture one treat, lady. I heard that was the rule around here.”
Yesterday, during our all day gentle snow I didn’t have to be anywhere. Husband cleared the driveway multiple times.
Abstract art.
My only responsibilities involved keeping the birdfeeders full. In return I got to watch dozens of beautiful birds all vying for a spot to grab a snack.
The feeder looked Victorian with it’s cap of snow.
At one point I counted 8 male cardinals in my shrubs, on the deck railing, and on the feeders at the same time. There were lots of females as well, they’re just harder to see. I couldn’t count all the blue jays, titmice, goldfinches, chickadees, starlings, nuthatches, ravens and woodpeckers.
“I guess I’ll share my favorite tree with the others. This time.”
Today looks like more of the same, in the bird world anyway. It’s stopped snowing, but it’s still wildly beautiful.
I even took a walk down the road, wearing grippers on my boots, for a little look see.
Didn’t have to go far to see I liked the yellow against the white.
Yep…beautiful down there too.
I wish you all could experience it from a lazy-boy chair inside a nice warm house with big windows and a lot of birds to entertain you.
Hey lady! There’s snow on my suet!”
Winters in Michigan. Be careful, or they’ll get the upper hand.
And then the sun showed up for a moment or two.
But if you can learn to enjoy them…well…then you win.
I went for a walk this morning, down a neighborhood road I haven’t ventured since Katie left. The road we took our last walk on that day. She and I went up to the first neighbor’s mailbox and then turned around at our usual spot, I remember she met a snapping turtle laying eggs that morning and I let her watch for a bit.
So many memories on that short piece of asphalt.
I went past our turn-around this morning, unleashed from an elderly dog, up the road further and around the corner where she and I had rarely ventured.
“Oh sweetie-girl” I thought.
“It’s OK, mama,” she replied, “next time it won’t hurt so much.”
No, not that kind of struggle…the struggle to capture the night sky image I have in my head. Sometimes I think I should just get another head.
See that shadow hump in the foreground? That’s me hunkered down behind the camera, due to my neighbors GIGANTIC light hanging over her garage. Sigh.And the lights on the right are from my house.
This week we finally had a clear night. I swear, we hadn’t seen the sun in weeks here in Michigan, but one day this week the sun graced us with her presence and I excitedly watched the weather guy to see if we were going to keep those clear skies overnight.
Well…sort of…but it was the best we’d had in forever, so I figured I’d run over to a local park where I thought the skies would be darker than Katie’s park here in town. I was going to go over around 9 p.m., figuring it would be true dark by then. But I’m older now and was already yawning at 8. And it looked pretty darn dark to me even that early.
I moved, so it’s somewhat better. And you can see a couple stars if you look carefully, so it’s all good.
So off I went, camera on the tripod, settings already entered. Remote shutter thingy attached. Extra batteries in my pocket. Handwarmer in there too. It was 17F out there.
As I drove the few miles to the park I didn’t see another car. Good. I don’t really want anyone to know I’m at the park after dark. I just want to grab a few practice shots and get out of there and back to my nice warm house.
But just as I got to the park entrance, beginning my turn in off a narrow country road, a car came up over the hill from the other direction, bright lights glaring. We both stopped for a moment, and then I continued on, not wanting them to see me pull into the park. I drove about half a mile away, turned around at the next road and went back.
WordPress always shows images darker than I’ve edited them. Lots of light over there.Plus some clouds moving in.
All was still. I texted my husband that I was there, and was reaching for my camera when a car, possibly the same car, pulled into the parking lot and parked at the other end.
Well. I’m not getting out of my car. In fact I locked the doors and waited a few minutes. I’m pretty sure they were doing the same thing. I couldn’t think of one good reason for anyone to be out there long after dark unless, of course, they too wanted to shoot the stars. And what were the odds of that?
So I backed up, shot out of the parking lot, and went home. I think I was gone all of 20 minutes. I was so frustrated I decided to at least take a picture of the tree in our yard, still decked out in lights. I figured the camera was on the tripod, might as well get something.
When I walked into the house husband said something like ‘That didn’t take long.” and I explained the story, and he said he’d go back out with me in a little bit.
Lots of light looking behind me too.
So we did. I felt much happier sitting out on the pier knowing he was in the car just behind me. I got a few images…but there was lots more light out there than I anticipated in a Bortle 4, I think I was shooting over the next small town. I need to go further away.
Still it was fun trying to remember all the things I needed to do to get the stars. I struggled with my tripod a whole lot too. Good things to practice before the Milky Way is back up. I really want that shot that’s in my head
There were a LOT of planes that night.
Today I tried stacking a series of 10 images from that night. That’s supposed to take things that aren’t consistent between the images out and improve the noise level in the results. I think I need to figure something out, because this is what I got.
9 images of the airplane at 8 seconds each. Sigh. And another little one down near the horizon too.
Ah well, my classmates will help me with that…and meanwhile I had a midwinter adventure close to home and have another story to tell!
PS: I think you need to be looking at these images when you’re sitting in a dark room with no glare. 🙂
The European Starlings descended on our feeders one afternoon this week.
Hmmmm, this suet seems to be a bit stale.
I only see these birds in the winter, though I read they are year round residents.
But not so stale that I’ve got it to myself.
All I know for sure is that they are pigs and will empty a feeder and eat a whole block of suet in a day. Many people don’t like them because they are invasive.
I guess we can get along and share it.
But, when the sun shines on them just right they are beautiful.
I think the prettiest bird should have first dibs on the food.
On this day the skies were dull and there was little light. But I’ve seen them in sunlight on other winter days and been mesmerized.
I think you’ve got a big head, that’s what I think.
This week I first noticed them fighting each other over the suet feeder. But soon enough they were on the peanut feeder too, a favorite with our Red Bellied woodpeckers.
Hey! Back off, the peanuts are MINE!
The woodpecker stood his ground, telling the starlings off and eventually winning the right to eat in peace.
Geeze…what’s the world coming to I ask you?
In fact, after that little run-in all the starlings moved to the ground in the backyard and then on to greener pastures.
No need to mess with that woodpecker, plenty of seed down here for us.
I wasn’t ready to go home after I visited the Veterans’ Cemetery, so I headed over to a park I don’t get to very often.
I thought maybe I’d wander the trails a bit and see what was there. But when I arrived I was drawn, as usual, to the pier that runs out into the small lake.
It was a cold day, still grey, but I was having fun using the wide angle lens, and that kept me from noticing the cold for awhile.
I took several wide shots of the scenery, but noticed a lot of smaller stuff I thought was interesting, so once I got the big picture out of the way I went back to the car to warm up and change the lens.
Mostly I was interested in the weed and grass reflections in the still, frozen water alongside the pier.
I particularly liked this clump of grass.
And these curves had me too.
I spent a long time out there on the pier, so I didn’t get to the trails. That’s my excuse anyway.
You see, Katie and I used to come here once in awhile and walk the trails…and as I looked toward the woods where we had explored I knew I wasn’t ready to go back without her.
She would have loved the cold, and would fit right in with all the reddish browns I saw that day.
Change Is Hard 