Backyard Birding in Winter

January 24, 2026

Most of the country is now in the midst of a huge winter storm. When I got up this morning, the temperature was -12°F! The wind chill factor yesterday was a whopping 19 degrees below zero!! But, hey, when the sun is shining, it doesn’t seem that cold– especially when you’re inside looking out!

**Male Northern Cardinal on a frigid winter day!**

When it’s this cold, I do love the challenge of trying to stay warm and taking pictures at the same time! I wear multiple layers of clothing, heated socks, clunky over-boots, a warm hat and mittens, and two hand warmers stuffed into my pockets. I don’t venture far from the house on days like this, though. I like to duck inside every once in a while for a warm-up. Besides, everything I need to see is right outside my back door.

To bring the birds in a little closer to where I’m taking pictures, I sprinkle a handful or two of sunflower seeds, mealworms, and peanuts on a nearby tree stump. It’s fun for me to watch how long it takes the birds to find this stash, and to see who finds it first; usually it’s the Dark-eyed Juncos, or the Blue Jays.

**Female Dark-eyed Junco** **waiting patiently for her turn at the seeds**

blue Jay quickly scarfing down peanuts from our backyard tree stump

A little later, the Northern Cardinals show up on the stump, and sometimes the Common Grackles or the Red-bellied Woodpeckers. The Starlings are nearby raiding the peanuts from our platform feeder rather than the stump!

**Common Starling waiting for a turn on our platform feeder**

In the nearby trees, I might also have the joy of finding a Pileated Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker or, on rare occasions, a Red-tailed Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk!

**Sharp-shinned Hawk that landed briefly**

I love standing under the shelter of our second story deck and surveying our backyard for hours on end capturing the rhythm of the day; making mental notes about which birds are most likely to visit, who’s the bravest, what treat they like the best, and who’s the hardest to photograph.

**Female Dark-eyed Junco on an empty stump!**

The most common winter visitor to my tree stump is the Dark-eyed Junco. There are plenty of them around and they are ground feeders. They’re used to looking for food down below rather than up in the feeders overhead where most of the other birds like to go. Juncos also hop around in the snow next to the stump looking for seeds that other birds have dropped or knocked off the edge.

**Male Dark-eyed Junco looking for seeds in the snow**

One of the bravest birds, I think, is the Black-capped Chickadee. It seems fearless to me. On the rare occasions where I’ve tried feeding our backyard birds by hand, only the chickadees have taken me up on the offer. Surprisingly, the bigger birds have been much too wary. When I feed the birds by hand at the Kensington MetroPark in Milford, Michigan, the Chickadees are often the first to take food from my hand as well. Perhaps the bigger birds, like the Cardinals and the Blue Jays see my skinny little hand as too precarious a perch for them even with an offer of food!

**The Black-capped Chickadees love peanuts!**

The favorite food for most of the birds is definitely peanuts. Those disappear quickly, especially when the Blue Jays take over! They’ll grab 7 or 8 peanuts in quick succession and return for more! When they take this many peanuts at a time, most will be stored in their crop, an expandable pouch in the Jay’s esophagus that temporarily holds food. The crop allows Blue Jays to transport a large number of seeds or nuts to other locations and store them for future use. Before taking flight, I often see the Blue Jays carrying two or three additional peanuts in their beaks!

**Blue Jay taking more than his fair share!**

One of the potential ‘stump feeders’ that I love to see but rarely capture is the Carolina Wren. Every winter, except this one, I’ve had one come to the feeders on our deck where I could easily watch it from the comfort of my living room chair. This cute little wren came so regularly that I assumed it was the same bird year after year and I referred to it fondly as my Carolina Wren. I can’t say it ever landed on the stump, but it did occasionally sit nearby.

The most difficult birds for me to photograph have been the Black-capped Chickadees and the Tufted Titmice. They fly in, grab a seed, and disappear! I can barely spot them through the lens of my camera before they’re gone! I have dozens of ‘bird-less’ pictures to show for it! Once they’ve grabbed a seed, off they go to peck it open. If they land on an open branch, one that’s not obstructed by a tangle of other branches, I can sometimes get a decent shot. But these birds are small and quick and blend in perfectly with the trees. It’s so much easier to photograph a cardinal!

**Black-capped Chickadee sitting on a limb that we attached to our deck for photo-ops like this!**

**Tufted Titmouse momentarily resting!**

Most of the time when I’m backyard birding, only the ‘regulars’ show up (sparrows, juncos, jays etc.), but every once in a while, there’s a surprise, like the Sharp-shinned hawk that landed briefly, or the Cedar Waxwing that sat for a while in a nearby honeysuckle bush, or the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that paused momentarily on our aging dogwood tree less than 10 feet from where I was standing! He was so close that I was afraid any movement on my part would scare him away.

**Cedar Waxwing in the Honeysuckle Bush**

**Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on the Dogwood Tree**

I’ve stood outside my back door taking pictures many, many times over the last several years through every season and all kinds of weather. It never ceases to amaze me how many different birds there are right in our own backyard; birds I’d never even heard of before, like White-throated Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrows!

There are also birds that, early on in my photography life, I didn’t even know were here in the winter like the goldfinches, robins, and bluebirds.

And there are the regular, everyday birds, like the House sparrows, House Finches and White-breasted Nuthatches that come to our yard, or the Downy and the Hairy Woodpeckers that regularly come to the feeders, or the occasional Red-breasted Nuthatch that I rarely ever see!

Once in a while, a few vagrants pass through our yard like this Oregon Junco I photographed in January of 2021, or this rare Orchard Oriole in May of 2021.

**Oregon Dark-eyed Junco** (January 2021)

It never ceases to amaze me that so many different birds come to our backyard! It helps that we’re in a condo association where all of our yards are one big yard, where most of us have feeders hanging from our decks, where there are plenty of trees, and where a lovely little creek passes close by. In the warmer months, that creek is home to Wood Ducks, the occasional Northern Shoveler, and the usual mix of mallards and geese!

Enjoy!

Finding Refuge

November 7, 2024

Yesterday, in a state of post-election grief, I went to the woods to find comfort, solace, and healing—as well as pictures! It’s my happy place, a place of refuge in both good times and bad.

**One of the inviting trails at Kensington Metropark in Milford, Michigan**

But yesterday it wasn’t just any woods, it was the Kensington woods in Milford, Michigan, where the songbirds are acclimated to people and expectantly perch in the trees along the trail hoping you will extend your arm and present them with a handful of birdseed. I knew the assignment and had come prepared. My pockets were bulging with sunflower seeds, raw peanuts, and dried mealworms—plus a red Tootsie Pop from one of the grandkids in case I got hungry. The tootsie pop, however, was not in the same pocket as the bird food!

**Tufted Titmouse– one of many small birds willing to take food from my hand**

Every time I stopped to take a picture, the songbirds would start flitting nearby expecting to be fed. At one of those stops, a chickadee landed on the far end of my telephoto lens and stared back at me waiting for his handout! (Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture!)

**One of the beautiful little Black-capped Chickadees waiting to be fed**

It was impossible for me to resist and I always reached into my pocket for more seeds. In order to get a picture or a video of the birds in my hand, though, I had to sling my ‘real’ camera, with its long 600mm lens and attached monopod over my shoulder, and pull out my cell phone. While I stood there with one hand outstretched with seed and the other trying to take a picture, I felt the occasional bounce of a little chickadee or a tufted titmouse landing on my monopod that was extended behind me like some sort of backwards fishing pole. I had to smile, knowing they were there waiting for me to feed them and trusting that I wouldn’t cause any harm.

**Female Red-winged Blackbird waiting for a handout**

As I stood there feeding the ‘littles’ (chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches), two very tall sandhill cranes came sauntering down the trail in my direction. They were in no apparent hurry, and probably knew that I wasn’t either. I expect they knew that a handout was a possibility, just like it was for the ‘littles’. It’s not particularly advisable to feed them, however, or the chipmunks for that matter. They can get a little too pushy if you don’t hand over the goods! For better or worse, virtually all the critters at Kensington know that humans come bearing gifts.

**Two Sandhill Cranes sauntering down the trail**

The trail I was on at Kensington skirts a small lake called Wildwing. In the middle of that small lake were hundreds of migrating birds swimming about. They were not very close to shore and it was nearly impossible to get a decent picture, but with my 600mm lens, I was able to see American Wigeons, Ring-necked ducks, Red Heads, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, and a large contingent of mallards. It was a birding bonanza!

Along that very same trail, I was surprised to find a large flock of Rusty Blackbirds busily surveying the open ground for food and I quickly pointed my camera in their direction. It’s amazing how beautiful their feathers are when you can see them up close. Rusty Blackbirds get their name from the rusty coloration at the edge of their feather edges that shows up during the winter months.

The trail around Kensington’s Wildwing Lake is 1.75 miles long and, without the need to obsessively take pictures like I do, the average person could walk it in 40 minutes or less; maybe a little more if they stopped to feed the birds several times. I spent five blissful hours!

**The Red Squirrels want handouts too!**

For me, a walk in the woods is therapeutic. Taking pictures is therapeutic. Both are wonderful antidotes to the fear and anxiety that has consumed so many of us over the last several years. The walks in the woods and the picture-taking got me through COVID and hopefully they will get me through the next four years!

**The Sandhill Cranes are always a joy to see!**

**Sandhill Crane checking the ground for spilled seeds!**

Morning Light

November 19, 2023

Note: Most of the pictures in this post were taken on earlier picture walks

I was sitting in my favorite chair at 5 a.m. on this cold November morning, enjoying a toasty fire, drinking a hot cup of tea, and contemplating the day ahead. Every once in a while, I’d look out the window to see if the sun had come up.

By 7:45, I could see just a hint of light on the very top of the trees along the far side of the creek behind our house. I wrestled with my choices for the day– stay warm and cozy inside the house, or go out into the cold November air and take pictures. The conditions were perfect: early morning light, no wind, and clear skies. I thought maybe a northern shoveler would unexpectedly drop by, or that a few wood ducks might swim out from the reeds as they sometimes do, or that a great blue heron would be scouting for fish along the opposite bank. I might even see a rare mink scurrying by. Anything was possible!

There was no choice, really; whether to stay inside or to go outdoors. The morning light beckoned. It would be impossible for me to stay home on such a beautiful day! There was such promise in the air! But, it was only 32 degrees! I wasn’t ready to face the cold! And getting dressed would be a challenge– because cold weather photography, where I might not move for hours on end, takes careful planning. Should I wear two layers or three? Do I need mittens or gloves? Boots or shoes? There were too many decisions to be made this early in the morning!

**All bundled up for the cold on an earlier picture walk**

By 8:15, though, I was out the door. The sun had risen a little higher in the sky, the water in the creek was perfectly still, and I planted myself in the very best spot I could find where the sun would be at my back.

**Cherry Creek in the early morning light**

I stood quietly and waited. The squirrels were scampering through the leaves behind me and running across the branches overhead. Now and then, I’d hear a red-bellied woodpecker tapping on one of the nearby trees. A handful of birds were greeting the new day with their joyful song while a solitary goose flew by.

Not far from where I was standing, I could hear the familiar sound of the male red-winged blackbirds as they flitted among the cattails. They have a short, one-second song that starts with an abrupt note and turns into a musical trill. The females usually respond to the singing males with a chit-chit-chit sound, but I never heard their replies. Perhaps, the females have already flown south for the winter.

**Male Red-winged Blackbird in the reeds along Cherry Creek**

After about an hour of standing and waiting, I took a seat on the bench next to me; my hopes slowly dwindling. There had been no signs of any shovelers, wood ducks, or herons. I would have been happy at that point if even a mallard had floated by!

Eventually, the cold air settled into my bones, and I had run out of things to talk to myself about. I tried, instead, to concentrate on all the different birds I could see or hear in the trees around me, like the chickadees, tufted titmice, cardinals, robins, cedar waxwings, woodpeckers, sparrows, and blue jays. They provided a symphony of songs and a bit of entertainment as I sat watching for the elusive ducks and herons to appear on the creek.

By 9:30, I was ready to throw in the towel and go for a walk in the sun so I could soak up some of its warmth. Before leaving my temporary roost, though, I moved closer to a nearby bush where I had been watching the cedar waxwings gobbling up berries, hoping I could maybe get a picture of them! With all the foliage obstructing my view, it was more of a challenge than I expected!

After managing to get a few waxwing shots (and one fat robin), it was time to move on to more promising grounds. I headed over to the business park next door thinking I would find a red-tailed hawk, a migrating duck, or maybe even a bluebird. All I found were pigeons.

Where was everybody??

It was almost noon and the temperature had climbed from a chilly 32 degrees to a toasty 50. I was so HOT! I had taken off my hat, mittens, and scarf and stuffed them into the pockets of my coat; the pockets that were already jammed full with two rechargeable hand-warmers, one cell phone, and a set of keys. Eventually I had to take off the coat as well and tie it around my waist or I would totally disintegrate from the heat! It was time to head home.

**A big fat Robin enjoying the same berry bush as the Cedar Waxwings**

In the end, I didn’t have much to show for all my efforts: no wood ducks, no hawks, no shovelers, no mallards. It’s always disappointing when this happens, but I just can’t force the birds to show up when I want them to– or to get them to sit still in the right light while I adjust my settings.

On a particularly slow picture day, like this one, I have to remind myself that the most important thing is the walk itself, not the pictures. At my age (76), spending the day outdoors traipsing about is a gift; one that I treasure. Having my camera along, just makes all that exercise more interesting.

And that’s what keeps me going out the door–even on the least promising of days.

Find the Joy

November 21, 2022

“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” Anonymous

I love this quote– and the snow!

The Carolina Wren sings a very joyful song

It’s hard not to feel a certain child-like wonder when the first big flakes of snow fall from the sky and transform our world into a winter wonderland. I love sitting by the fire with a hot cup of tea in my hands watching the snow pile up outside our window and marveling at the little songbirds as they fluff up their feathers to ward off the cold. I’d like to invite them in for a while to warm up. Instead, I put on three layers of pants, three shirts, a balaclava, a fuzzy hat, a down coat, a neck warmer, mittens, and boots, and join them, camera in hand.

Black-capped Chickadee and a Fox Sparrow fluffed up against the cold!

American Robin on a snowy day enjoying a crabapple tree

For the last several days, the snow has been falling almost non-stop! The birds don’t seem to mind, though, and are flitting about everywhere, enjoying the easy source of food in our feeders and occasionally taking sips of warm water from the birdbath. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of them hoping to find among the mix, one of the ‘vagrants’ –birds who are part of a phenomenon known as an ‘irruption’ which is currently taking place across eastern North America.

An irruption is a sudden change in the population density of an organism. In the lives of our feathered friends, an irruption occurs when the birds who live farther north run out of food, and move farther south to find sustenance. Some of the irruptive species here in Michigan include purple finches, redpolls, evening grosbeaks, red-breasted nuthatches, pine grosbeaks, pine siskins, and bohemian waxwings.

A Common Redpoll and a Red-breasted Nuthatch from a previous winter

These irruptions commonly occur every few years and mostly impact the finches and other species that winter in the boreal forests of Canada and further north. The primary food source for these birds comes from pine cones. When the pine cone crop is poor over the summer, it foreshadows a difficult winter for these birds. The shortage of seeds that the pine cones produce forces these birds to move beyond their normal range in search of food. If multiple types of trees fail to produce a seed crop during the same year, multiple species of birds will move further south.

Eastern Bluebird weathering the elements on a snowy winter’s day

Irruptions vary widely in size, frequency, and duration. Some birds will stay in an area for weeks at a time, while others might only stay for a day. Regardless of the size of the flock or the duration of their visit, it’s an exciting time for birders!

I would love to see any one of these wayward birds on my picture walks, but I have been happy enough with my usual backyard visitors, as well as the interesting mix of migrating birds that visit Kalamazoo this time of year, like the fox sparrows, the white throated sparrows, the American wigeons and, the very peculiar, Wilson’s snipe.

Wilson’s Snipe, a migrating bird at the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery

A Fox Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow, migrating birds that come to our backyard

American Wigeon, a migrating bird that visits a nearby pond

I’ve been out in the snow several times recently looking for the evening grosbeaks, the red-breasted nuthatches, and the other ‘irrupters’ who might be passing through, but I have come up empty handed. On any given picture walk, though, there is always the possibility that something new might come along, and ‘possibility‘ is always a great motivator!

Female Cardinal and a male Hairy Woodpecker

On these beautiful, winter days, I love the challenge of bundling up like a kid to stay warm and trudging through freshly fallen snow to photograph a bird, as I revel in the joy that, at age 75, I can still do this!

Find the joy!

White-tailed deer, one of the other beautiful creatures I often see on my walks

Great Backyard Bird Count

February 16, 2021

The 24^th annual, four-day, Great Backyard Bird Count just ended yesterday. I had never participated in this event before and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe I thought it would be too time-consuming or that only experienced birders would be able to do it. Maybe I thought it would be too complicated. Whatever the reasons, none of them proved true. Over the course of four days, I counted most of the birds from the comfort of my easy chair, the rest by standing in our back yard, camera in hand!

**Black-capped Chickadee and a Tufted Titmouse**

“The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations.” www.audubon.org

**American Tree Sparrow and a Song Sparrow**

**Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-breasted Nuthatch**

“The massive international community science project, held over four days every February, collects data that provides scientists with a long-term record of bird distribution and numbers over time, helping to identify trends that might be associated with urbanization or climate change.” https://news.wttw.com/2021/02/12/global-great-backyard-bird-count-underway

“By participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, community scientists contribute data that we use to protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. In return, studies tell us that pausing to observe birds, their sounds and movements, improve human health. Participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count is a win-win for birds and people.” https://earthsky.org/earth/register-participate-great-backyard-bird-count

“During the 2020 count, more than 250,000 checklists were submitted from over 100 countries, and a record 6,942 species were counted. That is a large proportion of the estimated 10,000 bird species that live on Earth today.” https://earthsky.org/earth/register-participate-great-backyard-bird-count

The Northern Cardinal nearly always tops the list as the number one bird reported followed by Dark-eyed Juncos, Mourning Doves, Downy Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, House Sparrows, House Finches, American Crows, Black-capped Chickadees and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

With the exception of the Black Crows, all of those birds were on my list but in a different order of frequency. I also found Robins, Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, Brown Creepers, Northern Flickers, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Hairy Woodpeckers, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, and one new addition, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!

**A beautiful Starling and a charming little Swamp Sparrow**

Even though it’s called a ‘backyard bird count’, you don’t really have to be in your own backyard. You can go for a walk and count the birds along the way or you can go to a park and sit on a bench with a hot cup of tea in your hand. But for this, my first ever Great Backyard Bird Count, I actually counted the birds in my own backyard. In terms of variety, it was probably the very best place for me to be. Over the course of the four day event, I identified eighteen different species of birds!

If you haven’t already participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, put it on your calendar for February 2022. It’s easy and fun– and an immensely good thing for all our feathered friends!

Happy birding!

Winter Photography

February 1, 2020

I love going out on picture walks. It’s one of my favorite things to do! Even in the dead of winter!

By all accounts, this has been a relatively mild winter here in Michigan, so I had been eagerly waiting for a really big snowfall to come along! We did have a few short bouts of snow in December and January, but it melted quickly. Yesterday, though, on the very last day of January, it finally happened!! We had what I would call “a magnificent snowfall.” Huge, fluffy flakes swirling all around– giving the world that magical snow-globe kind of feeling! It was perfect! I had to get out the door!

Female Northern Cardinal with just a touch of snow

Male Northern Cardinal and an American Goldfinch

Eastern Bluebirds stay here all winter and enjoy berries like these

Getting out the door, though, was the easy part; trying to stay warm and take pictures at the same time, was not —especially when the wind chill was well below freezing. I can easily put on two or three layers of pants, sweaters, socks and hats, but I cannot do the same for my hands –not if I expect to be able to operate any of the tiny buttons and dials on my camera! Over the years, I have tried various combinations of mittens and gloves and hand warmers to solve the problem with varying degrees of success –or lack thereof!

Black-capped Chickadee enjoying the snow!

A beautiful Bluejay waiting for his turn at the peanuts

As the weather got progressively colder this winter, I tried yet another new idea. Instead of gloves, I tried two layers of very thin mittens (along with my usual rechargeable hand warmers). I picked mittens instead of gloves so that my fingers could keep each other warm; and I chose thin ones so that I could still feel the buttons on the camera! The inner mitten was a wool blend and the outer one a wind-proof, water-proof shell. So far, this combination has been working at least as well as most I have tried –but the jury is still out. When I’m not actively engaged in taking pictures, I stuff my hands deep into my pockets and hold on to those toasty hand-warmers.

This lovely, little Fox Sparrow was a new bird for me! He was right in my own back yard!

An American Tree Sparrow and a female House Sparrow

The problem is, most of the birds I encounter are not particularly interested in seeing me with my hands in my pockets standing around doing nothing! As soon as my hands go in the pockets, they start badgering me to take another picture!

“Pick me! Pick me!” they chirp insistently. “I’m the prettiest! Pick me!

How can I resist??

White-breasted Nuthatch with two tiny snowflakes on its beak!

Contrary to popular belief, many Robins stay here all winter.

So I continue to traipse about for hours on end, encumbered by multiple layers of hats, scarves and sweaters in happy pursuit of the ‘prettiest one’– all the while wondering how these tiny little creatures manage to stay warm with their skinny bare feet and tiny feathered bodies, while I, on the other hand, am barely staying warm.

White-throated Sparrow– another little bird that hangs out in our backyard

American Tree Sparrow on one of our snowiest days

It’s just one of the many fascinating mysteries of nature, I guess. Mysteries that keep drawing me in –and sending me back out for more!

Photography as Meditation

December 7, 2020

The idea of photography as meditation has been mulling around in my head for quite some time now. The more I go out to take pictures, the more it feels like a form of meditation.

Dark-eyed Junco– Well into the end of November and the beginning of December, we were getting relatively warm, sunny days that were perfect for all-day photography outings

It was so warm (50 degrees or more) in late November that even the Autumn Meadowhawks were still flitting about and the Painted Turtles were still out sunbathing!

Meditation is commonly described as a “practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.”

Black-capped Chickadee– Four days after the warm, sunny pictures of dragonflies and turtles shown above, it snowed!

Male and Female Cardinal during a brief but spectacular snowfall on November 24th.

Whenever I arrive at a woods, a field or a pond to take pictures, a sense of calm washes over me. I quickly become so focused on looking for interesting things to photograph, that there’s absolutely no room in my brain for any of the usual clutter. Three hours later, I emerge from my ‘trance’, relaxed and ready to face the world. It seems a lot like what I think of as a meditative state.

On another unusually warm November day, I watched the Sandhill Cranes float down to the waiting cornfields

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Sandhill Cranes flock to the open cornfields this time of year. They are a sight (and a sound) to behold!

Much has been written about the therapeutic effects of time spent in nature, but I had never seen anything written about the therapeutic effects of nature photography or, more specifically, ‘photography as meditation’. I decided to do a little research to see if anyone else had come up with the same idea. Surprisingly, there were entire books on the subject!

Female Mallard in the early morning light

Male Mallard and a Female Mallard Hybrid going head to head

Trooper Swan– a cross between a Whooper Swan (pronounced ‘hooper’) and a Trumpeter Swan

“For many people, photography serves as a form of meditation; a way to separate themselves from their stressful lives. Meditation and photography have much in common: both are based in the present moment, both require complete focus, and both are most successful when the mind is free from distracting thoughts.” (Photography as Meditation by Torsten Andreas Hoffman)

Male Mallard conducting an orchestra of Trumpeter Swans at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

Male Mallard with a green head and one with a blue head

Female Mallard, possibly leucistic — Leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation which causes white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticles, but not the eyes.

“Both photography and meditation require an ability to focus steadily on what is happening in order to see more clearly. Whether you are paying mindful attention to the breath as you sit in meditation or whether you are composing an image in a viewfinder, you find yourself hovering before a fleeting, tantalizing reality.” (Stephen Batchelor, Yale University Press, Meditation and Photography)

A well-camouflaged Wilson’s Snipe who was migrating through Michigan

I had tried ‘regular meditation’ once or twice before, where I would sit quietly and calmly for a short period of time and try to focus my attention on only one thing, but I never mastered the art. On a picture walk, though, I can stay focused for hours and there’s absolutely no room in my brain for the worries of the day to intrude— quite a godsend, I’d say, given this horrifying pandemic and the deplorable state of our government.

White-breasted Nuthatch and a Tufted Titmouse

A picture walk continues to be the perfect form of meditation and the perfect antidote to today’s chaos.

First Snow

November 10, 2018

path through woods 11-9-2018 9-02-16 AM I was so eager to get out the door yesterday morning to take pictures that I didn’t even take time to eat breakfast. It was the first snowfall of the season and I was hoping to catch lots of beautiful shots of otherwise ordinary things. I felt like I was ‘racing’ against time, though, because the forecast called for rain in just a few hours. Not wanting to lose any time driving somewhere, I just walked out our front door to explore the woods, streams and ponds in our complex.

It was so beautiful—and so incredibly quiet! The snowfall muffled all the sounds and it felt rather

squirrel 11-9-2018 8-56-05 AM — “What’s up world?”

magical walking so silently through the woods as a few lingering snowflakes drifted lightly to the ground. I’ll probably be sick of all the snow in a month or two, but yesterday, it was a wonderland. Even the squirrels looked cuter in the snow!

RUBY CROWNED KINGLET 11-9-2018 10-34-30 AM — **Ruby Crowned Kinglet–***A tiny bird seemingly overflowing with energy, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet forages almost frantically through lower branches of shrubs and trees.*

golden crowned kinglet 11-9-2018 10-31-051 — **Golden Crowned Kinglet–***Though barely larger than a hummingbird, this frenetically active bird can survive –40 degree nights, sometimes huddling together for warmth.*

My favorite surprise, though, was finding and ‘capturing’ ruby crowned kinglets and golden crowned kinglets. I rarely see them. They are very small and very quick –which makes it a bit of a challenge to get them to sit still long enough for a picture!

At that point in my walk, I had the added challenge of a camera that wouldn’t focus properly. I thought maybe the battery had gotten too cold to function so I pulled it out and tried to warm it up—ha! I wasn’t any warmer than it was! Eventually, though, I got it to work and had another ten minutes or so of picture taking before my little flock of kinglets fluttered off into the woods somewhere.

white throated sparrow 11-9-2018 9-51-56 AM — **White Throated Sparrow–***another bird I don’t often capture and was thrilled to see.*

Just for the record, yesterday’s bird ‘count’ included: white throated sparrows, goldfinches, cedar waxwings, golden crowned kinglets, ruby crowned kinglets, cardinals, tufted titmice, mallards, geese and house sparrows.

gazebo 11-9-2018 10-58-32 AM — **Willow Lake, another great spot for birds!**

bridge over cherry creek 11-9-2018 8-24-04 AM — **Cherry Creek bridge where I often see herons, geese and mallards.**

buck 11-9-2018 9-45-56 AM — **My 8 point buck!!**

snow on berries 11-9-2018 9-31-31 AM — The new snow on the not-ready-for-winter trees looked lovely!

tufted titmouse 11-9-2018 9-11-37 AM — **Tufted Titmouse–**Tufted Titmice nest in tree holes (and nest boxes), …they use natural holes and cavities left by woodpeckers. These species’ dependence on dead wood for their homes is one reason why **it’s important to allow dead trees to remain in forests rather than cutting them down.**

deer 11-9-2018 8-39-04 AM — One of several beautiful deer I saw yesterday morning that were easily within 10 or 15 feet of me.

mallard 11-9-2018 11-02-34 AM — A mallard on the wing

cardinal 11-9-2018 10-16-50 AM — The cardinals really stand out in a winter woods.

golden crowned kinglet 11-9-2018 10-32-051 — **Golden Crowned Kinglet**