The second of two posts on my freezing cold trail walk.
Read part one here.
Cold, snowy weather brought out the birds, and like this cheerful red cardinal, they were all hungry to the point of squabbling over the food! The female cardinals in yesterday’s post were the worst. They flew at the fence post as if to see who could be first to land and grab all the food. If they arrived at the same time, there was loud squawking, with a quick change of direction to avoid a collision.
When the red-bellied woodpecker flew into the scene, she got first choice. As my kids would say when they were little, “She got dibs on the bark butter bits!” She was queen of the fence post, and she knew it.
As I mentioned yesterday, it was cold and starting to spit snow again. My hands were painfully cold from holding the camera, so I decided to head for home. Then I heard the distinctive sound of a pileated woodpecker pounding on a tree. It didn’t take long to find him, high up in a dead tree in the nearby bog. So high up, in fact that he was almost out of reach of my lens. I got a picture, but not a very good one; however, unless I wanted to wade in the half frozen water that surrounded his tree, it was the best I was going to get.
By that time I was having visions of a mug full of hot cocoa. Pulling my gloves out of my jacket pockets, I pulled them on over stiff fingers and walked down the trail to my car.
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 
I’m loving this world where I can sit here in another hemisphere where it’s so hot … and see such beautiful birds that I wouldn’t in my neighbourhood. #awe
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Thank you, Naomi. That is so true. Visiting different blogs brings the world right into our living rooms (or wherever we’re sitting as we visit the blogs).
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The queen is stunning! And you got a picture of the pileated woodpecker as well. I heard one this week, and found it too…but no camera 😊
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Thanks, Helen. They are such amazing birds, but they seem to favor the tree tops. That’s when I wish for a longer lens.
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Wonderful shots!
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Thank you, Belinda. I appreciate your visit to my blog.
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Wonderful shots! Take good care of your hands. I spent many a winter in NE Ohio freezing my poor fingers. I found that fleece gloves with mitten over top (the kind you can fold back so you can use your gloved fingers) works really well.
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Thank you for sharing your solution, Robin. Usually the handwarmers I carry in my pockets do the job, but when the wind chill temperature sinks below 20 degrees, they’re not enough. I have fleece gloves, but they are too bulky. I’ll have to keep looking for a pair that work. Right now, I’m just hoping for an early spring, which as you know, doesn’t often happen in northeast Ohio.
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Even your bad shots are, as my Yankee husband might say, pretty darned good.
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That’s really kind, Laurie. I’m trying, but I find frigid winder days a real challenge.
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Those shots were worth cold hands !
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Thanks very much. I was pleased with them, but my hands were verging on frozen.
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Thanks for sharing the trail with me. All your photos are great, but I love the first two today.
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I’m very happy to share the trail with you. Thanks you for your kind comments.
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