The Cupboard Pantry Held A Secret

A Crow. Or is it a Raven? Or, a Magpie? 

Just popped a McDonald's bag of whole kernel popcorn that I found in my cupboard. One-third cup of bulk corn is 172 calories. It also meets the daily recommended consumption of grains. I salt lightly and do not use butter or oil. I like the corn dry and fluffy when popped.

The McDonald's bag is an old trick that I learned years ago. It's perfect and cost nothing. Use once and toss it out. When I get a cup of coffee at McDonald's ( I love their senior citizens price) I save the bags.. In the past, I might have run into Kroger's bakery and got a donut or two, then pull into the McDonald's that sits on the corner of my Kroger's parking lot and get my coffee.

So, this weather has been just perfect. I had forgotten my checkbook and ran out to get it from the car. I had gone to the bank after lunch and when I got the camera bag out of the trunk, I put the check book in the trunk. My thinking was that I would remember it when I got home and before I went into the house, I would get it out of the trunk. Well, that didn't work and when I went out to get it  just as the blue hour was setting in, the air had chilled and me in a T-shirt and cargo shorts got chilled in just that little time. So, much to my dislike, I turned on the heat just to take the added chill out of the house. I haven't had the heat on, even at night, for better than a week and I have slept as snug as a bug in a comforter.

The lake was rather sad today. Only a few of the aged pelicans remain and don't usually make the trip north any longer. A little larger population of cormorants hang on all year, too. Plus, the lake is full of sand bars with all the wind we have had and Sunset Bay is a mess. I talked to one of the Civil Engineers today and get ready---the trail is about to get ripped out and totally redone. from Lake Highland to Poppy and south. That will ruffle the feathers of a few bikers.

Red Winged Black Bird

Little Sparrow-like Songbird.

It's Nesting Time Again.

There is a pair of Red Shoulder Hawks that I have followed for the past five years. Even on the days where I don't go specifically to the lake, I will drive by the area from the upper road to see if I can see them surfing the thermals. Today, was one of those times when all the bells and whistles went off as I drove by a road sign and saw the female sitting on the top of the sign.

 Quickly, I made the block and came back around  from another angle. To my surprise, there she sat in the same place on the sign top. Putting the window down on the passenger side before I came to a full stop, her attention was on me but her focus was on the ground below the sign. I had a clear shot of that area. Even without checking settings, I fired off three quick shots for reference. Then, in a flash, she takes off from the sign and glides over the grass area between the shoulder and the incline were I was parked. Into the grass she landed. For a quick bit, I had begun to wonder if she had been injured. She stood up  with a field mouse in her beak. I had gotten the shots of her in a final moment of a hunt that was successful. The next thirty-eight minutes was just amazing as she flew off over the road into a thicket of trees. I decided that I could not miss this action and gave in driving around to the entry of the park about a mile or two away.

Parking the car, I got out and slowly walked into the thicket watching for shadows on the ground and any movement in the trees. Nothing. It was at that point that I wanted to get a fix on the location of the sign where I had seen her first and  where she had flown this way. Walking quietly and slowly through the thicket, I came up on the road from the opposite side from where I had been in the car. Walking down the roadway on the shoulder with traffic whizzing by has plenty of room to walk and not be in an unsafe spot. My intentions were to walk around the thicket and come back to my car  that I had parked in one of the lots. For some reason, I stopped to photograph the sign from across the road when there was movement in the corner of my eye.

Looking up, there was the most amazing hawk in just the right spot doing just the right thing. Perched on a branch in clear site, she sat there while I got off plenty of  images. The sun was back lighting her right side (anatomically correct) so I risk moving and upsetting her, but she continued to sit there watching me. I do talk to wildlife. She got the, pretty bird routine. I moved back and forth several times covering and recovering 20 or so yards. She continued to just sit there on her perch. Then, I hear the screech of her mate from overhead. I looked up to see him appearing to be ridding the thermals, but in reality, he was busy defending his territory as I found out later when the aerial battle began.

There was a Red-Tail Hawk along with the Red Shoulder. Both were attacking a pair of big crows with sticks in their mouths in mid air. It appeared that the crows were starting to build a nest in the hawks territories and they both joined in the fight to defend the range. I have a blur shot of one crow in flight with the stick as nesting material and at least one of the hawks. I'm still learning how to switch back and forth from pre-set settings and those images are more blur. I am always amazed that I can shoot jets coming in from 130 to 170 MPH and not blur an image but something about real birds gets me excited and I blur the images. I'm still working on the problem. But, to me, at this point, the experience is captured in clean shots and the blur shots all the same. That tells a story, too!

It was a good day and I came home.

The Field Mouse Is No More

The Female Red Shoulder Hawk that just  finished  the mouse.

The Male Red Shoulder had to defend his own territory from the crow after the Red Tail drove the crow into the Red Shoulders Territory. Boundaries are Boundaries!