As I trekked down the trail, I was joined by some birds and a few other woodland critters. As usual there were some curious deer, watching from among the trees. Only one ventured close enough for me to take a clear picture. She opened her mouth, as if to ask if I had a treat to share with her.
When I wandered down the path to the split rail fence, hoping to see the elusive red-bellied woodpecker this evening, the first critter to catch my eye was this squirrel, who paused on top of the fence post long enough for me to capture his picture:
Farther up the trail, I walked out onto the pedestrian bridge and saw a human critter, a fisherman, standing in the middle of the river, casting his fishing line into the darkening water. I didn’t hang around to watch because I was beginning to feel chilled by the wind whipping up the river and seeping through my protective layers. To my eye, fly fishing is like poetry in motion, so I snapped a few pictures before moving on. Despite the cold, the fisherman seemed to be enjoying his lonely occupation.
Back at the fence corner, I watched as a greedy house sparrow landed on the fence post and snitched a couple of peanuts.
Still, I waited, hoping to see the red-bellied woodpecker, and finally, my patience was rewarded when he flew in and landed on the post. With a sigh of delight, I clicked off a few pictures.
The evening wasn’t quite over yet. As I stood there, camera ready in my frozen fingers, I witnessed a confrontation between two sparrows and a black-capped chickadee over who was going to grab the next peanut.
When one of the sparrows picked up the peanut, I grabbed my last photo and headed home. Cold but happy, I had enjoyed my trek along the trail this evening.
Beautiful photos Caroline – each picture was a treat as I read through this post. You sure had some good shots here. Those birds sure look happy with their treats don’t they … you got that woodpecker along with the rest – good for you. It was a successful trek! (The fisherman made me cold!)
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The fisherman made me cold too, but he made a good photo opp.
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He sure did Carolyn He was right out in that water, as cold as it is these days. We’re getting some freezing rain tonight and tomorrow morning, then snow on the weekend – it looks like this time the snow will arrive, not like last weekend when we dodged a bullet.
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Those pictures are definitely worth cold fingers. In central Maine, the lakes are all frozen, so a different kind of fishing is done.
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A year ago, our river was frozen, as it often is in January through March, but this year has been much more moderate so far.
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Such a pretty place for a walk even in the cold! Great set of images!
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Thank you, Camille. It is a really good place to walk and close enough to home that I can get there when I don’t have time for a long walk.
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