A Bird in the Hand

We enticed her out with the promise of fantastic scones.

Thing 2 (our younger daughter: I'm not sure if the new nickname will stick) doesn't like to get out of bed before noon if she doesn't have to. Most of her classes at university aren't until the afternoon, or are late in the morning, mostly because she's studying music and performance jazz, and most of the students hone their skills by performing in music halls, often until the wee hours of the morning.

Sometimes, she doesn't get back to her campus residence until about 3 am.

When she was back home for her reading week, in November, Thing 2 didn't go out to all hours but she did still like to sleep in. She often skipped breakfast, having her first meal at lunchtime.

When DW and I wanted to head out to Mud Lake to search for an owl and to photograph the ducks and other birds, we planned to cap off our hike with a stop for breakfast at The Beachconers Microcreamery. We knew that we wouldn't be able to entice Thing 2 with a hike in the woods, even though she likes ducks and has never seen a wood duck up close, so we tempted her with a chai latte and a scrumptious scone, and she agreed.

We promised that we'd bring some bird seed, to attract the small birds—the chickadees and nuthatches—but we actually forgot to pack a small bag with us in our haste to get out the door. And yet, that didn't keep these birds from getting close to us to see if we had anything for them.

Thing 2 was disappointed, as she wanted to hold her hand out with seed, wanted to have birds alight on her palm. At one point on our walk, she held out her arm in an attempt to show us that she was going to miss out holding a bird.

That's when a chickadee landed on her empty hand. It perched itself for a moment, looking at her hand, wondering where the food was. When it deemed that it wasn't going to get a seed, it fluttered off.

Immediately after it left, a nuthatch landed in the chickadee's place. It looked at the empty palm, looked at Thing 2, looked at her palm again, and then flew away.

I pulled my camera to my face. "Keep your hand out."

"Dad, they've figured it out. They won't come back."

"Just hold the pose for a few more seconds," I said. "Let's see what happens."

The birds came back but wouldn't stay for long. I had to be quick with the shutter release. And, eventually, the birds caught on that seeds would not be forthcoming and they sought out other hikers.

Thing 2 was quick to remind us that she was along for the scones, so we continued on our hike and finished up with the wood ducks, which she loved to see.

She loved the scones even more.

Bird Shots

I don't typically have the patience to sit in the woods or along a body of water to photograph wildlife. When I go outdoors to capture images, I prefer to keep moving, keep my eyes open, and stop only if something catches my eye.

As soon as I've taken a few pictures, I like to keep moving, looking for more subjects to photograph.

This summer, DW and I set up a bird feeder under our choke-cherry tree, and have taken pleasure as we've viewed myriad finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, and more feathered friends. DW, having renewed her interest in photography with her mirrorless Canon, likes to sit in our backyard and digitally capture these birds. I would often join her, with one of my Nikon D-SLRs and my 70-300mm lens, and do the same, though after a time I lose patience and set my camera down.

Other times, I've attached one of my 360-degree video cameras to the same branch and record the birds as they've come and gone, but lately I've lost interest in setting up the camera, only to cut scores of video that shows little or no action.

Last weekend, the two of us decided to wander around Mud Lake, along the Ottawa River, near Britannia Village, and we both brought our cameras and some bird seed. Having hiked this conservation area a few weeks earlier, on the Thanksgiving weekend, we saw how the birds like to come close, hoping for a treat. DW, who saw nuthatches on our previous walk but didn't have her camera, was hoping to capture one this time.

She needn't have worried: nuthatches are in abundance in this part of the city, as common as the chickadees that landed on us, whether we had seeds in our hands or not.

Because we wanted to keep a safe distance from the many other visitors who had the same idea of wandering Mud Lake, we opted to stray off the path, set seeds on fallen logs or tree stumps, sit back with our cameras at the ready, and see what happens.

We weren't disappointed.

We also saw lots of ducks, geese, and other fowl, including this wood duck.

The only birds that eluded our lenses were a female cardinal and a downy woodpecker, who flittered in the bushes or climbed out of sight, high atop the trees. But that's okay: we know they like our backyard feeder.

Happy Thursday!